They're in a grimey old '66 Dodge pick-up truck, racing to the airport where they'll meet up with other members of the gang waiting on the airstrip with 3 kilos in the cockpit. She's in the back seat with his pal.  She's bleeding from a gunshot wound.  There's only a paper towel roll on the dash, along with all the other crap the truck driver never bothered to clean out since day one.

His pal wants clean paper towels, okay

Now, answer the */&*##*!*! question.

Hello Davkett

I'm envisaging a conversation like this:

"Do you have any tissues?"

"There should be some in the glove compartment."

"Are they clean?"

"Of course they're clean!"

"Are you sure?"

"Well, no, I'm not 'sure'. But if they weren't¹ clean, they'd be in that bijou little garbage can." [sc. where I always throw the dirty ones.]

"Well, these aren't clean. Look!"

"Well, I don't know how they got there. But if those ones aren't² clean, throw them away, okay?"

So the subjunctive/past tense¹ is used here to present what the speaker believes to be unreal, and the present tense² for the real.

Whereas in this sentence:

"But if they aren't clean, they'd be in that garbage can."

the first clause seems to relate to the real (she has to look at those particular tissues to know whether they're clean or not), and the second clause to the unreal (those particular tissues would be in the garbage can if they were dirty). So it does sound strange to me.

But I may be mishearing...Any other views out there?

MrP

Hello Davkett

1. But if they weren't dirtied, they'd still be in the glove compartment.

Here, to my ears, the speaker is supporting an assertion that the tissues are dirty (they must be dirty, because they're in the bin); whereas in my scenario, the speaker is supporting his assertion that the tissues are clean (they must be clean because they're not in the bin).

2. But if they aren't clean, they will be in the garbage can

Here, again to my ears, the state of the tissues is being discussed: we can find out if they're dirty by looking in the bin. (I have to say, I wouldn't like to be stuck in a speeding vehicle with those two.)

I suppose this kind of situation might be more likely, for the structure in #2:

3. "Can I have an apple?" "I think all the apples have been eaten. But if they haven't all been eaten, they'll be in the fruit bowl."

(But have I missed something? I feel, vaguely, as if we've run into an ambiguity somewhere, and you're discussing one side of it, and I'm discussing the other.)

MrP