In Conditionals^x, Idioms^x

Mr Pedantic is under the mistaken impression that these "conditional types" are frozen formulas On the contrary, as I commented before: ' may sound differently to other members'. That said, I would indeed find it a strange 'collocation'. Many strangenesses are 'common': if you've ever read...

Try looking at it this way, Guest. 1. I would have gone {past event}, if I were you {present counterfactual}. Here I am focused on me being you. 2. I would have gone, if I had been you . Here I am focused on the time of the lost opportunity. Either is okay because the hypothetical...

Hello Jack In addition to what you already have from Abbie, here's some stuff from another thread, which may help with the general background to AS IF statements. I’ve set out 'as if' in the style of conditional structures, for convenience. AS IF structures are perhaps more easily...

Maverick has a valid point about the insertion of if he is a fool => He is behaving as if he is a fool! (Cf. 'he's behaving like a fool'.) He acts as if he owns the place => He acts as if he owns the place! It looks as if he’s lying => It looks as if he’s lying. It looks as if...

BBC English says if you should… / if you happen to… Note that we use should in the if-clause in the first conditional if we want to suggest that something is very unlikely. We can use happen to in a similar way or even combine them: If you should / happen to change your mind about coming to...

Goodness! I'm trapped in a conundrum, and I don't even know it! None of the "would" + base-form-of-verb patterns are past. They are all conditional. "would like" is an idiom for "want"; the substitute is often made for politeness. "I would go" and "That would be nice" are pure...

It's true that you have used a subjunctive in some of your sentences, e.g. (8). Such sentences will therefore resemble examples of the English subjunctive. However, you have used them in contexts where it isn't idiomatic to use a subjunctive in English. You should take particular care when...

Hard to say how subjunctive mood *exactly* works in such a small room. The Subjunctive Mood denotes a mood of verbs when the content of the clause is being doubted, supposed, feared true, etc., rather than being asserted (which is the Indicative Mood). The rules for its use and the range of...