‘would have still been alive today‘
Hello, everyone,
“Scientists believe the dinosaurs would have still been alive today if it had not been for the asteroid crash.” (only one sentence available and quoted from our local material)
Though I’m not sure the sentence above is grammatically correct, I feel a little awkward that the 3rd conditional ‘would have been’ is followed by the time adverb ‘today’.
I guess this construction - ‘would have been’ with ‘today’ may be possible with following reasons;
1. ‘would have p.p’ is sometimes used to talk about present situations which are no longer possible because of the way things have turned out.
* If my mother hadn't knocked my father off his bicycle thirty years ago, I wouldn't have been here now. (or ... I wouldn't be here now.) (quoted from Practical English Usage)
2. ‘Today’, ‘now’ are sometimes informally used to point to a moment in the past (a moment ‘earlier today’, ‘earlier now’) with a past tense. Thus, the indicative mood ‘In fact, the dinosaurs were not alive today.’ has been converted into ‘The dinosaurs would have still been alive today.’
Since I’m unable to judge which is plausible reason in that context, I would really appreciate if you kindly share your opinions.
Top answer
deepcosmos Though I’m not sure the sentence above is grammatically correct, I feel a little awkward that the 3rd conditional ‘ would have been ’ is followed by the time adverb ‘ today ’. You are right to be suspicious about this. To my ear it sounds like a mistake.
- deepcosmos Though I’m not sure the sentence above is grammatically correct, I feel a little awkward that the 3rd conditional ‘ would have been ’ is followed by the time adverb ‘ today ’.
- You are right to be suspicious about this.
- To my ear it sounds like a mistake.
- I expected "would still be alive today".
- deepcosmos I’m unable to judge which is plausible reason It's the same for me.
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deepcosmosThough I’m not sure the sentence above is grammatically correct, I feel a little awkward that the 3rd conditional ‘would have been’ is followed by the time adverb ‘today’.
You are right to be suspicious about this. To my ear it sounds like a mistake. I expected "would still be alive today".
deepcosmosI’m
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