 Anonymous wrote: |
and is it possible to use "would have" at the begining of a sentence?, for example:
If I would have been smart I wouldn't have done that.
If I would have had money I wouldn't have done that.
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No, that's a no-no in standard English.
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would have for had. In spoken English, there is a growing tendency to use
would have in place of the subjunctive
had in contrary-to-fact clauses, such as
If she would have (instead of
if she had)
only listened to me, this would never have happened.
But this usage is still widely considered an error in writing. Only 14
percent of the Usage Panel accepts it in the previously cited sentence,
and a similar amount—but 16 percent—accepts it in the sentence
I wish you would have told me about this sooner.
The American Heritage® Book of English Usage
[link]
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