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jack112  #139076  Mon, 19 Sep 05 03:30 AM

http://www.amazontrails.com/fiction/semperfi6.htm

1. "Bre will you sit down, they'll be all right and Jack will show up, she probably is over at the E club with some of the DI's having a beer."

2. "She would have called if she was gonna be late. Where's my car keys? I'm going to the hospital to see Ronnie."

I don't understand why isn't #2 like this:

3. "She would have called if she is gonna be late. Where's my car keys? I'm going to the hospital to see Ronnie." (I don't know if she is late or not, so doesn't it make more sense with 'is' even though it contradicts the conditional rule? With 'was', I'm saying she is not going to be late?)

If only 'was' is correct, does it convey what I want to say though?

Thanks.

  
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Mister Micawber  #139289  Mon, 19 Sep 05 02:49 PM

It seems to me that she is already late; otherwise, they would not be grabbing the car keys and going.  In that case, #2 is the only appropriate choice.  If we do not know, then either #2 or #3 will do it-- with current truth, you have the option of regression.


  
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pieanne  #139301  Mon, 19 Sep 05 03:07 PM

Shouldn't it be "where are my car's keys?"

 

  
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MrPedantic  #139484  Tue, 20 Sep 05 12:07 AM
 Pieanne wrote:

Shouldn't it be "where are my car's keys?"

 

Hello Pieanne

Yes, "where are my car keys?" is better.

MrP

  
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Eimai_Anglos  #139487  Tue, 20 Sep 05 12:14 AM
The whole thing is grammatically incorrect but that's what you get when you report colloquial speech. It's how (some) people talk but it's not right.
  
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MrPedantic  #139510  Tue, 20 Sep 05 01:05 AM

It's not so bad. It only needs a clean shirt and a haircut:

"Bre, will you sit down? They'll be all right; and Jack will show up; she probably is over at the E Club with some of the DIs having a beer."

"She would have called if she was going to be late. Where are my car keys? I'm going to the hospital to see Ronnie."

MrP

  
katsudon  #139595  Tue, 20 Sep 05 06:29 AM

People do not talk ungrammatically. The grammar of the written language, SWE/SFE, is much different than the grammar of spoken English. Language science knows this and has proven it time and again.

In speech, we often say; "Here's/where's/there's + plural noun". In fact studies prove that this pattern predominates even with plural nouns.

"She would have called if she was gonna be late.

This is fine. The first part focuses on this particular situation, hence the speaker uses "would have called". If the speaker didn't want to focus on this particular situation, but rather on what is known about 'she', they could have used,

1. She would call if she was gonna be late. OR 2. She always calls when she is gonna be late. OR 3. She will call if she is gonna be late.

All express that she is that type of person, a thoughtful enough person to call if late.

So in real natural English, 1 , 2 or 3 is fine.

"She would have called if she was gonna be late. Where's my car keys? I'm going to the hospital to see Ronnie."

  
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MrPedantic  #139929  Wed, 21 Sep 05 12:42 AM
 Katsudon wrote:

People do not talk ungrammatically.

In that case, why do people correct their own grammar as they speak?

MrP

  
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