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 #2 (permalink) Sat Nov 24, 2007 4:18 am One matter about conditional and "But For" |
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| michauek wrote: |
should we change it into :
1) If it weren't for your wisdom, we'd have never coped with our problems
or
2) If it hadn't been for your wisdom, we'd have never coped with our problems |
That's exactly right. You should make it either...
1) If it weren't for your wisdom, we'd have never coped with our problems
or
2) If it hadn't been for your wisdom, we'd have never coped with our problems
:D
Which one to choose has more to do with how far in the past your mind imagines the person's wisdom to be. If you think of the person's wisdom as still being visibly present, you use "weren't". If you're thinking of his display of wisdom during just that particular incident in the past, you can use "hadn't been". My gut feeling is that test writers would want "hadn't been", but it really depends on how much time you imagine the person's wisdom is spanning.
However, the two "right" sentences both have something that bothers me:
| Quote: |
| we'd have never coped with our problems |
For some reason I don't know, ESL books have started to tell people to put the adverb right before the main verb. This results in some dumb-sounding, mildly ungrammatical sentences. The adverb is best put right after the position of the first auxiliary verb, if there is one. So it sounds better to say:
we'd never have coped with our problems |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 6552
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #3 (permalink) Sat Nov 24, 2007 14:41 pm One matter about conditional and "But For" |
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thanks a lot. It solved my problem ;)
adding comment to the 2nd part of the sentence- I thought that it's correct to put "never" after "have" but thanks for explanation !
Mike
_________________
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde
Michal. I'm an english student :-) |
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Michauek
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Apr 2007
Posts: 171
Location: Poland
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| #4 (permalink) Sat Nov 24, 2007 14:47 pm One matter about conditional and "But For" |
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| michauek wrote: |
| adding comment to the 2nd part of the sentence- I thought that it's correct to put "never" after "have" but thanks for explanation ! |
This is what books have suddenly started teaching, but it makes the sentence sound clunky.
I think they've started saying that with the idea that it's easier to tell students to put the adverb before the main verb, than it is to tell them that it goes right after the first auxiliary or "be" even if there's no auxiliary. But sometimes the easiest explanation doesn't result in the best English. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 6552
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Shall or Will | why "it was a dream come true"? |
