were to break
00 The increased drainage pushed the Jianjiang River out of its banks, but officials hoped minor flooding now would prevent a catastrophic flood later on, if the dam were to collapse. 02 p
01 p00 An unknown number of people were evacuated in Jiangyou City ahead of the increased outflow, Xinhua reported. 02 p
01 p00 If the dam 01 b 00 were to 02 b 00 break, it could threaten up to 1.3 million people downstream. More than 250,000 people already have been been evacuated, Xinhua reported. 02 p
01 p00 Is the future meaning introduced by "were to" necessary? Would it be bettter to use the simple past "If the dam broke"? 02 p
01 p00 Thanks 02 p
00 0-Top answer
0 It's hypothetical. The writer doesn't think the dam will break. 0-
- 0 It's hypothetical.
- The writer doesn't think the dam will break.
- 0-
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001 cite 10 New2grammar 12 cite 12 br
10 The increased drainage pushed the Jianjiang River out of its banks, but officials hoped minor flooding now would prevent a catastrophic flood later on, if the dam 11 b 10 were 12 b 10 to collapse. 12 br
12 br
10 An unknown number of people were evacuated in Jiangyou City a
002 br
00 'Were' is used in the first sentence. Therefore you have to use 'were' in the other sentence. (I should have said that I'll change both for consistency) 0-
00
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