Would have
Hello. I really need help with these 'would have' constructions here! Why they are used here and what's the connotation of each one of them if they are different?
Ex 1 'Krum, whom Harry would have thought would have been used to this sort of thing, skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group.'
Top answer
Purple Heir Krum, whom [ who [Harry would have thought] would have been used to this sort of thing], skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group. If you had asked Harry about it, Harry would have thought this about Krum: Krum would have been used to this sort of thing. / Krum was used to this sort of thing.
- Purple Heir Krum, whom [ who [Harry would have thought] would have been used to this sort of thing], skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group.
- If you had asked Harry about it, Harry would have thought this about Krum: Krum would have been used to this sort of thing.
- / Krum was used to this sort of thing.
- The 'would have' in the first clause is from an implicit third-conditional pattern (shown in full above).
- The 'would have' in the second clause is just the result of a sort of automatic grammatical reflex that tries to match tenses.
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Purple HeirKrum,whom[who [Harry would have thought] would have been used to this sort of thing], skulked, half-hidden, at the back of the group.
If you had asked Harry about it, Harry would have thought this about Krum:
Krum would have been used to this sort of thing. / Krum was used to this sort of thing.
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