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Alc24 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Won't have or wouldn't have
Which would you say?
You say this to a friend:
She will arrive while I'm eating./I will be eating when she arrives. (Which to say BOTH?)
When she arrives you say:
I knew I wouldn't/won't have been able to finish eating.
Thank you
You say this to a friend:
She will arrive while I'm eating./I will be eating when she arrives. (Which to say BOTH?)
When she arrives you say:
I knew I wouldn't/won't have been able to finish eating.
Thank you
Top answer
/I will be eating when she arrives. Both correct. I prefer the second.
- /I will be eating when she arrives.
- Both correct.
- I prefer the second.
- alc24 I knew I wouldn't /won't have been able to finish eating.
- As shown.
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2 Answers
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alc24She will arrive while I'm eating./I will be eating when she arrives.Both correct. I prefer the second.
alc24I knew I wouldn'tAs shown. Always select the past in the clause after knew and thought, and you can't go wrong./won'thave been able to finish eating.
A little more idiomatic
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Both of the first two sentences are correct. There are slight differences in what you are emphasizing (either her arrival, as in the first, or your eating, as in the second), so you might select one over the other if you have a reason to want to emphasize one or the other more.
For the 2nd sentence, it would be, "I knew I wouldn't be able to finish eating (before you arrived)."
For the 2nd sentence, it would be, "I knew I wouldn't be able to finish eating (before you arrived)."
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