Timeline for If conditional "didn't" vs "hadn't"
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
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| Jun 15, 2012 at 7:18 | comment | added | leoger | @Peter, Speaking as an American, I regret to inform you that we're well on the way to using past in place of conditional. "If I didn't have my walking boots on" CAN certainly mean that I have them on at the time of the speech act, but it is just as likely to mean "If I hadn't had my walking boots on [yesterday]..." | |
| May 5, 2012 at 13:14 | comment | added | Peter Shor | One comment. Michael Swan's example from Practical Usage, "If I didn't have my walking boots on, I think I would have really hurt my foot," does not use the simple past for a past condition. If an American said that sentence, he would still have his walking boots on. So unreal present condition and hypothetical past event. It's not the most formal grammar, but I suspect Swan is right, and it's used. | |
| Mar 6, 2012 at 18:16 | comment | added | Noah | @Shoe- Thanks. Posted a new question. english.stackexchange.com/questions/60277/… | |
| Mar 6, 2012 at 12:13 | comment | added | Shoe | @Noah, The difference in my sentences is between we would realize and we realized. There is a difference between your 2 sentences: "By the time I would realize, it would have taken 4 hours" and "By the time I would realize, it would take 4 hours" but I need more space than a comment allows to give a good answer. | |
| Mar 6, 2012 at 10:11 | comment | added | Noah | @Shoe- Thanks. What is the difference between "By the time I would realize, it would have taken 4 hours" and "By the time I would realize, it would take 4 hours". Are both the same? In BTW, both your examples seem identical. | |
| Mar 6, 2012 at 9:53 | comment | added | Shoe | Yes, you can say something like "By the time I would realize, it would have taken 4 hours" but the would in both clauses is the habitual would not the conditional would. Another example is: We would chat for ages before we would realize how much time had passed. Although in this case I prefer to use the simple past in the second clause: We would chat for ages before we realized how much time had passed. | |
| Mar 6, 2012 at 7:03 | comment | added | Noah | @Shoe- Thanks. The action is of a behavioral type. Like I would get in a chat with a friend every once in a while, and when by the time I would realize, it would take 4 hours. Am I using it properly this time? | |
| Mar 5, 2012 at 18:39 | comment | added | Shoe | @Noah. Thanks. Seems like I'll have to invest in the latest Swan! The sentence is your last post appears incomplete (or I haven't understood the intended meaning.) A correct example based on your fragment would be: "By the time I realized that it would take 4 hours, it was too late to stop." | |
| Mar 5, 2012 at 8:27 | comment | added | Noah | @Shoe: Could you tell me if this is correct: "By the time I would realize, it would have taken 4 hours(Talking about past)" This one doesn't have an if statement, but I am not sure if it's the correct way of saying it. As it's kind of related to this post, I don't want to create a new question. | |
| Mar 4, 2012 at 19:56 | comment | added | Noah | @Shoe It's the third edition. Not sure about the second edition because I don't have it at hand. | |
| Mar 4, 2012 at 19:46 | comment | added | Shoe | @Noah, I can't find the sentence in my copy of Swan (second edition, published in 1997) and can find no section on mixed tenses. Anyway, I can say with some assurance that in BE If I didn't come to the meeting, it wouldn't happen cannot ever mean If I hadn't come to the meeting, it wouldn't have happened (which I think was your original question). And that If I didn't come to the meeting, it wouldn't have happened is ungrammatical (the claim in my OP). I await with interest any American commenter who refutes these claims. | |
| Mar 4, 2012 at 17:17 | comment | added | Noah | @Shoe Page 262(Mixed Tenses 6) | |
| Mar 4, 2012 at 11:42 | comment | added | Peter Shor | That construction sounds wrong to me, although possibly it is used in some regions of the U.S. | |
| Mar 4, 2012 at 11:05 | comment | added | Shoe | @Noah, Perhaps an American could comment on whether this construction is common in AE. I wasn't able to find the reference in Swan. Could you tell me which page it is on? | |
| Mar 4, 2012 at 9:31 | comment | added | Noah | Shoe- Michael Swan's Practical Usage has a sentence stating that it's commonly used in AE. "If I didn't have my walking boots on I think I would have really hurt my foot" | |
| Mar 4, 2012 at 7:17 | history | edited | Shoe | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 215 characters in body
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| Mar 4, 2012 at 7:04 | history | answered | Shoe | CC BY-SA 3.0 |