ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: type II

Yankee — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 12:44:40 GMT

Yes, they all mean the same thing, PBF.

Re: type II

Peaceblinkfriend — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 08:10:33 GMT

Hi all,

Sorry to be off-topic here but I would like to know whether '...she wouldn't give me my job back' has the same meaning as '...she wouldn't give me back my job'?

Also, could say 'she wouldn't give my job back to me'?

Thank you.

Best wishes,

PBF

Re: type II

CalifJim — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:37:53 GMT

If I go on bended knee to the boss, do you think she'd give me my job back? (Longman)

Why "would give"? "going on bended knee" is real. Why isn't it "will give"? why is it imaginary?

I take she'd give as she'll be willing to give -- in other words the "volitional" meaning of would, not the conditional (imaginary) meaning. Nevertheless, it's a mixed conditional on the face of it.

It sounds wrong to me when the clauses are inverted and the contraction expanded:

Do you think (that) the boss would give me my job back if I [?go / went] to her on bended knee?

I think I'd have said:

If I went to the boss on bended knee, do you think she'd give me my job back?

Or, more realistically,

Even if I went to the boss on bended knee, she wouldn't give me my job back.

CJ

Re: type II

Yankee — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:44:50 GMT

That's an interesting theory, but I'm not sure I can agree with it, Marius. I think it would be highly unlikely for someone to simply drop 'were to'. After all, it's only the 'were to' part that would make 'go' more hypothetical than probable.

If someone wanted that part of the sentence to sound more hypothetical (i.e. to match the more hypothetical second part), they would probably say "If I went on bended knee..." or the full "If I were to go on bended knee...".

As Trex's sentence is written, the "If I go" part sounds like something that the speaker is looking at as a real option, and not as a strictly hypothetical one.

Re: type II

Marius Hancu — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:35:39 GMT

The full form, more hypothetical, would be:

If I were to go on bended knee to the boss, do you think she'd give me my job back?

Re: type II

Trex — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:57:57 GMT

Thank you, Yankee.

Re: type II

Yankee — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:31:58 GMT

Hi Trex

Your sentence is a "mixed conditional". Perhaps the writer at Longman thought that begging/pleading (on bended knee) was far more probable than actually getting the job back.

type II

Trex — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:34:09 GMT

If I go on bended knee to the boss, do you think she'd give me my job back? (Longman)

Why "would give"? "going on bended knee" is real. Why isn't it "will give"? why is it imaginary?