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#2 (permalink) Mon Feb 18, 2008 23:18 pm Mixed conditional sentence (If Bob wasn't so lazy, he would have passed his exam) |
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Number 1 is in bad grammar. It's more or less low colloquial. It should say:
"If Bob weren't so lazy, he would have passed his exam." |
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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) Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:35 am Mixed conditional sentence (If Bob wasn't so lazy, he would have passed his exam) |
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But the problem is that I don't understand its meaning because ''weren't so lazy'' is unrelated to ''would have passed his exam'',an action in present can't affect an action in the past.(of course unreal present and unreal past) _________________ Don't see your shade think you are great |
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Duc I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 260 Location: Vietnam
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#4 (permalink) Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:19 am Mixed conditional sentence (If Bob wasn't so lazy, he would have passed his exam) |
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| duc wrote: |
| But the problem is that I don't understand its meaning because ''weren't so lazy'' is unrelated to ''would have passed his exam'',an action in present can't affect an action in the past.(of course unreal present and unreal past) |
Laziness is a lifetime attribute (or stigma) (or so believes the author of the above sentence). Therefore there's no need to specify when Bob is lazy - he is always lazy. But if he were not lazy... |
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Lost_Soul I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 1861 Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
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#5 (permalink) Tue Feb 19, 2008 14:19 pm Mixed conditional sentence (If Bob wasn't so lazy, he would have passed his exam) |
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Here is another way to look at it:
FACT: Bob is lazy. FACT (a past event): Bob did not pass his exam.
CONTRARY TO GENERAL/CURRENT FACT: If Bob weren't lazy IMPOSSIBLE RESULT (It's impossible to change a past event): he would have passed his exam. _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8316 Location: USA
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#6 (permalink) Tue Feb 19, 2008 19:55 pm Mixed conditional sentence (If Bob wasn't so lazy, he would have passed his exam) |
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Hi,
Let's leave aside the conspicuous subjunctive (it's only usually visible with 'be') and posit this: If he didn't live in ***, he would have gone to university. The point is that he does live in*** and so if we accept this fanciful idea that he doesn't, we can then go off into the realms of the impossible and imagine that he would have gone to university. Or is that an explanation too far?
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Present Simple |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 13891 Location: UK
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| "growth" and the use of the article | "have told" vs "had told" |