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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Unreal past

Hi,

she told she would have liked to come and see us.

Is the sentence grammatically correct,I mean the "would have liked" part
and souldn't it be replaced by "would like".

thanks.
  

Top answer

I think it depends on what you wish to say. (l) She said (that if she HAD time) she WOULD LIKE to visit. = present/future unreal (the chances of her visiting you are very low).

  • I think it depends on what you wish to say.
  • (l) She said (that if she HAD time) she WOULD LIKE to visit.
  • = present/future unreal (the chances of her visiting you are very low).
  • (2) She said (that if she HAD HAD time) she WOULD HAVE LIKED to visit.
  • = past unreal (she did not have time; therefore, she did not visit you.
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4 Answers
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I think it depends on what you wish to say. (l) She said (that if she HAD time) she WOULD LIKE to visit. = present/future unreal (the chances of her visiting you are very low). (2) She said (that if she HAD HAD time) she WOULD HAVE LIKED to visit. = past unreal (she did not have time; therefore, she did not visit you. She is now explaining why).
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It depends on what you want to say.

She told us that she would have liked to come see us. [She thought this then, but now she is not so sure.]
She told us that she would like to come see us. [She thinks this right now.]
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Anonymous
she told she would have liked to come and see us.

Tell and say are tricky.

Tell: (somebody)a story / a lie; (somebody) that...; somebody to do something.

Say: simple quote or with 'that'
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Anonymousshe told she would have liked to come and see us.
1. Capitalize the first word of a sentence.
2. If you use "told" like this, you have to say who you told.

She told us she would have liked to come and see us. (But unfortunately, she was very busy and was unable to do so. We were all disappointed that we had missed

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