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For example:

Since it's raining, wouldn't it be a good idea to bring an umbrella?

That sounds OK, but I'm not sure if it is.

What about these alternatives?

Since it's raining, isn't it a good idea to bring an umbrella?

I thought that this might be grammatically correct because "is" is on both sides of the sentence. It doesn't sound right though. Why?

Since it's raining, won't it be a good idea to bring an umbrella?

For some reason this doesn't sound right either, but I don't know why. It sounds better than the second example, but not as good as the first example.

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    The first is the one that sounds right and would be used most often, but I'm not sure of the grammatical rules which make it right.
    – neil
    Commented Apr 13, 2011 at 9:02

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with

Since it's raining, wouldn't it be a good idea to bring an umbrella?

Look at a few other constructions to see how natural it is:

Since you're going to the store anyway, wouldn't you like to pick us up some ice cream?

Since our success is uncertain, wouldn't we be well advised to consider how to minimize our risks in case of a downturn?

The first clause assumes a fact, and the second balances it with a speculative counterpoint. That is grammatical, unexceptionable and, incidentally, one way to make a sentence interesting.

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    How about "Since you got good grades, wouldn't that mean I'm a good teacher?"
    – language hacker
    Commented Apr 13, 2011 at 10:56
  • @language hacker: Grammatically that works, although logically it is a case of post hoc ergo propter hoc ... Still, in that case I would prefer "if" to "since"; not sure why.
    – Robusto
    Commented Apr 13, 2011 at 11:00
  • I agree that "if" is better... perhaps it's because the words "since" and "mean" here both express the concept of causality, so using both is saying the same thing twice?
    – psmears
    Commented Apr 13, 2011 at 18:32
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"Since it's raining" is a clause, which means the sentence should be grammatically correct without its presence (even if it might not hold much meaning). Since you can say "Wouldn't it be a good idea to bring an umbrella?" on its own, adding the clause would not make the sentence incorrect unless the clause itself was badly formed.

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  • The conclusion is correct, but the argument is not. In general, there is a required relationship between the tenses in the main and subordinate clauses. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence_of_tenses#English. However, in this case, "wouldn't it" isn't really functioning as a tense, but as a polite softening of the suggestion.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Apr 13, 2011 at 14:20
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Since it's raining, isn't it a good idea to bring an umbrella?

is correct

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