"If I were" in past

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MrPedantic

#544690 Mon, 21 Jul 08 11:27 PM

Huevos
MrPedantic
you wouldn't say "If I were to be stronger,..."
It's quite possible.

But I don't think this works:

1. If I were to be stronger, I would take part in a running competition.

What do other people think?

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Veteran Member (12,053)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

Marius Hancu

#544793 Tue, 22 Jul 08 03:06 AM

Most examples with "were" there are for the present time.

Also, better to work the Google Books, it's more educated than plain Google.

I agree with MrP and Philip, this does not work here in past time:

If I were to have been stronger I would have taken part.

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

nene4english

#544957 Tue, 22 Jul 08 01:04 PM

Hi Guys,

Sorry for not replying to any post. I was away for the day and so couldn't reply.

So, shall I take the conclusion as "had" must be used for the past instead of were?

Also, I have a quick question on one of the Huevos posts.

"If two duels were to have been fought the next morning instead of just one twice as many people would have been injured."

I remember reading somewhere that "been" must no be used more than once in these type of sentences(like what Huevos has used). Please correct me if I am wrong.

If the usage is correct, do you think the below sentence is correct?

"If the requirements had been given correctly, there would have been less defects".

Rgds,
Nene.

nene4english

Joined on Mon, Jul 21 2008

New Member (09)

Marius Hancu

#544958 Tue, 22 Jul 08 01:14 PM

>I remember reading somewhere that "been" must no be used more than once in these type of sentences(like what Huevos has used). Please correct me if I am wrong.

I thinks this is wrong. See:

---------

Remaking the World: The Speeches of Frank N. D. Buchman - Page 172

by Frank Nathan Daniel Buchman - Moral re-armament - 1961 - 396 pages

If it had been given four years ago there would have been no difficulties between
the French and the Germans. I am determined to see this spirit is applied ...
--------------

Marius Hancu

#544960 Tue, 22 Jul 08 01:17 PM

"If the requirements had been given correctly, there would have been less defects". [past in the conclusion, contrary to the fact, there WERE NOT less defects

"If the requirements had been given correctly, there would be less defects". [present in conclusion

Marius Hancu

nene4english

#544976 Tue, 22 Jul 08 01:53 PM

Hi Marius,

I meant, by using "would have been", the past in my sentence. I wanted to tell that "There were many defects(past) because the requirements were not correct(again past)".

I am bit confused with this explanation:
"If the requirements had been given correctly, there would have been less defects". [past in the conclusion, contrary to the fact, there WERE NOT less defects

Do you mean this sentence correct is correct if the conclusion is also in the past?

Rgds,
Nene.

nene4english

Huevos

#545035 Tue, 22 Jul 08 03:59 PM

nene4english
Do you mean this sentence correct is correct if the conclusion is also in the past?

It's just a standard type 3 conditional. This expresses a hypothesis on what would have happened if the "if" clause, which is no longer possible to fulfil, had been fulfilled. It is formed as follows: if + pronoun + past perfect clause + pronoun + would + perfect infinitive clause.

Huevos

Joined on Tue, Mar 25 2008

Spain

Regular Member (548)

British Native

Clauses, Nouns, Pronouns, Past perfect, Conditionals, Infinitive clauses

nene4english

#545104 Tue, 22 Jul 08 08:40 PM

Hi Huevos,

Thank you very much for the clarification. One last question:
Can we use something like this?

If the requirements were correct, there would have been less defects(I am trying to take out the meaning of "given" by someone). Both the parts are in past.

Rgds,
Nene.

nene4english