In Subjunctives^x, Conditionals^x

1) 'If I were in your shoes, I would kill him' That is subjunctive plus conditional and is correct. 2) 'If I had been in your shoes, I would have killed him' That is pluperfect plus conditional. This is questionable but used in everyday speech. 3) 'If I were to have been in your shoes, I would...

Hi Jack, my try: I would not put myself in a position where I jeopardized the people working for me, or those for whom I worked , for the sake of vanity. I don't know the exact terms to refer to those words. Let's say those two "past tenses" are kind of like two "subjunctives" or "unreality past...

I think you can't understand causative form because have confuses you, right? I have had my car towed (causative form.Nothing wrong with this.First have belongs to causative form, second have shows that the sentence is present perfect) to the new apartment .(They have towed my car in front...

Hi, The forms of be 'was and were' are normally past tense but in your example 'If I were president..' you are talking about an unreal situation in the form of a conditional sentence. Other examples of that would be, 'If I were/was younger I would do more sport' or 'If mum were/was here, she...

Generally speaking, the report of a real conditional (indicative) and the report of an unreal conditional (subjunctive) are indistinguishable. Once the backshift is applied to report these, it is impossible to recover exactly quoted direct speech from the reported form. CJ

Anonymous wrote: The President said, "I would take some broccoli, if they offered it". He said he would take some broccoli if they offered it. The result is the same when we report the following: The President said "I will take some broccoli if they offer it." Right?...

I was watching the movie "Ocean's 11". Near the end, Daniel Ocean says "What if I said I could get your money back if you gave up Tess?" Is this simply a subjunctive question, with reported indicative elements ("you can get your money back if you give up Tess"), or is there a subjunctive...

Inchoateknowledge wrote: do we drop the '-s' inflection in conditional mood? NO quod erat demonstrandum Mind you: it's a poem we're addressing, and it owns poetic liscense.

do we drop the '-s' inflection in conditional mood? NO quod erat demonstrandum

The Choice by William Butler Yeats (1865~1939) The intellect of man is forced to choose perfection of the life, or of the work, And if it take the second must refuse A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark. When all that story's finished, what's the news? In luck or out the toil has left its...