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Musicgold Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Wouldn't hurt / wouldn't have hurt

Hi,



I heard the following sentence from a native speaker. Technically, shouldn't it be ‘wouldn’t have hurt...” ?



Wouldn't hurt if it had a little more height.



Thanks,



MG.
  

Top answer

Its a change of tense. The speaker was using the present tense, your sentence puts it in the past. It suggests that the pain was still there when they were speaking, now your version would be better.

— Dave Phillips

  • Its a change of tense.
  • The speaker was using the present tense, your sentence puts it in the past.
  • It suggests that the pain was still there when they were speaking, now your version would be better.
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5 Answers
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Its a change of tense. The speaker was using the present tense, your sentence puts it in the past. It suggests that the pain was still there when they were speaking, now your version would be better.
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MusicgoldTechnically, shouldn't it be ‘wouldn’t have hurt...” ?
No.

would ... if [past] (Situation envisioned in present time.)

would have ... if ... [past perfect] (Situation envisioned in past time.)

Parts of to have: have, had, had.
Past of have: had.

Past perfect of have is
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Thanks a lot folks. Great explanation CJ.
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There is no literal pain.. it's a figure of speach. It implies something that could do with a change. In this case it means it could use "a little more height".
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-Wicked temper she had - real Eyetalian - her black eyes all snapping and looking as if she'd like to put a knife into you. I wouldn't have crossed her when she was in one of her moods.

This is not a conditional as discussed so far; is there any special reasons that the writer uses WOULDN'T HAVE CROSSED instead of WOULD CROSS?
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