ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: If I had listened to you

New2grammar — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:28:12 GMT

Thanks, Optilang, Huevos and MH.

Sorry, Optilang. I misunderstood your condition as that the winning numbers were somehow known before the draw.

Re: If I had listened to you

optilang — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:06:02 GMT

B: Oh no. I didn't buy a lottery ticket (?? This means any ticket of any lottery. How to be specific to the lottery his friend advised) Oh no. I didn't buy the lottery ticket.

Why is there a condition? "supposing that the numbers had been selected before the draw" - If there was no condition, it would not make sense to say that I would be rich now. There must have been advice given with the winning numbers, and this would have had to have been given before the draw.

The winning number was drawn, say, yesterday, and matched the number his friend advised him to buy - yes exactly.

Re: If I had listened to you

Huevos — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:57:21 GMT

New2grammar
Oh no. I didn't buy a lottery ticket (?? This means any ticket of any lottery. How to be specific to the lottery his friend advised)

You could say "Oh no. I didn't buy that lottery ticket".

New2grammar
Why is there a condition? "supposing that the numbers had been selected before the draw"

The winning number was drawn, say, yesterday, and matched the number his friend advised him to buy

The condition is that the if clause may be fulfilled. In your sentences it is already impossible to fulfil the if clause making the sentences purely hypothesis. This is known as a type III conditional and is formed thus: if + past perfect + would + have + past participle. A conditional formed with if + simple past is known as a type II conditional and is used where it is still possible to fulfil the if clause however unlikely that may be.

Re: If I had listened to you

Marius Hancu — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:44:47 GMT

B: If I had listened to you, I would be rich now.

Only this is correct in the context, as you must establish precedence with the past-perfect-like form of the subjunctive mood If I had listened, to show it was before the lottery

Re: If I had listened to you

New2grammar — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:24:50 GMT

Rephrasing

B: Oh no. I didn't buy a lottery ticket (?? This means any ticket of any lottery. How to be specific to the lottery his friend advised)

Why is there a condition? "supposing that the numbers had been selected before the draw"

The winning number was drawn, say, yesterday, and matched the number his friend advised him to buy

Re: If I had listened to you

optilang — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:17:22 GMT

B: Oh no. I didn't buy the lottery.

A: I told you so

B: If I had listened to you, I would be rich now./If I listened to you, I would be rich now.

There are some problems:

B: Oh no. I didn't buy the lottery. You cannot buy the lottery, you can buy a lottery ticket.

B: If I had listened to you, I would be rich now. If I had listened to you before the lottery draw, and if I had bought a ticket, I would be rich now (supposing that the numbers had been selected before the draw).

If I listened to you, I would be rich now. For me, this is more general - If I listened to you (over a period of time) I would be rich now.

If I had listened to you

New2grammar — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:45:29 GMT

B: Oh no. I didn't buy the lottery.

A: I told you so

B: If I had listened to you, I would be rich now./If I listened to you, I would be rich now.

I feel both are natural to say in this context. What do you think?

Thanks.