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I have a question about mood

Note that the following sentences are same :

If I did not have money, I could not buy it

=I could not buy it without money

=If it were not for money, I could not buy it

=Since I have money, I can buy it.

I want to know forming of the expression : If it were not for (A)

I guess that this is shortened from some long clauses. Consider the following :

I have only one cat and it is from Korea =I have a cat, which is from Korea.

Usually we use second sentence. But it can be viewed as shortened form of first sentence. That is, about (A) I want to know the forming. Translation is nonsense. Especially we cannot translate "it" If we write the sentence into complete sentence in detail, what is it ?

Thank you in anticipation.

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  • 2
    your title question makes no sense and is unclear
    – anonymous
    Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 1:32
  • 1
    ok that would be very helpful
    – anonymous
    Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 1:38

2 Answers 2

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The indicative mood is used to make assertions; the subjunctive, to express doubt or a wish or desire, and in constructions involving a condition contrary to fact.

Indicative: "I have money, therefore I can buy this." "I have no money, therefore I cannot buy this." These are clear statements of a situation and its consequence. They may or may not be true, but they are assertions about reality.

Subjunctive: "If I had enough money, I could (would be able to) buy this." "If I did not have enough money, I would be unable to (could not) buy this." These are statements about situations that are not real: "If I had enough"--but I do not; "If I did not have enough"--oh, but I do! Note that when the main clause is in the subjunctive, the subordinate clause is put into the conditional, to carry through the notion of a condition contrary to fact.

Lastly, the phrase you want to know about: "If it were not for the fact that I have enough money, I would be unable . . ." Basically what you are saying is that you do have enough, but wish to make an observation about a consequence if the situation were the reverse.

The main clause as I phrase it is cumbersome. You could certainly shorten it to "If it were not that I have enough . . ." You can also use a noun phrase, as in "If it were not for my large bank account . . . ," or a gerundive phrase, as in "If it were not for having lots of money, . . . ."

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the word "money" is a word that encompasses an aggregate. Like, for example, "corn." We would not find ourselves saying "we have a corn for dinner." Instead, we would say, "we have corn for dinner."

So adding the "A" in front of it is incorrect, as idiomatic speech.

This is a common mistake by little children. "How many money do you have?"..."I have a money." These are incorrect because the word "money" is not refferant to a single object.

edit the edit to the original question, which destroyed the original question, rendered my response moot.

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  • Thank you for your answer. I editted my original question.
    – Hee Kwon Lee
    Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 1:50

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