By Conditionals, Tenses

Why don't you start out early so that you don't have to hurry?Present-present here suggests instead, replacement, doing something instead of something. Better example:Why don't you take your car so that you don't have to walk?If you do not take your car, you have to walk.If we use...

Jean-Francois, the only "trick" to reported speech is that sometimes the tense shifts back. It doesn't have to if the essential truth of the issue is still true, but it's never wrong to shift it back either. You can use the "that" - you are inconsistent in using...

The answer is here: Typically, when the accompanying clause is an "if" clause, the historical present tense forms go with present tense verbs, and historical past tense forms go with past tense verbs. However, "could" and "might", meaning "may"...

Hi, Can the words 'could' and 'would' be used to express ' possibiliry' and 'conditional intention' respectively in both present and past settings? I think it can. CalifJim wrote this in one of his responses in the tread named 'would, would have/ could ,...

The conditional is given by the if/should part in blue. That part is the condition, irrespective of what tenses you're using in it. Plainly speaking, I don't think you understand the meaning of would and in what circumstances it should be used. The if/should used in the subordinate...

, (then) ... would have ... UNREAL, COUNTERFACTUAL *The past is sometimes called the past subjunctive in this position. Only the verb to be has a special form (were in all persons and numbers) in this position.Other combinations of tenses in these kinds of if patterns have no...

The position of the condition within the sentence is irrelevant to the was/were issue. If I were not sure, I would not tell you this.I would not tell you this if I were not sure.The problem is that the was > were change only applies to the main verb of the condition clause. Any other...

Hi Amy,yes, but in "If I knew where she lived, I would go there and..." there's a fact too, but the tense is backshifted. In your sentence a backshift would sound odd and would probably change the meaning... What I wanted to say is that I don't think the reason why we choose...

See: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences where it talks about mixing tenses . . .

Hi AvangiTo me, the word 'if' is used like 'whenever' in your sentence, and the word 'will' is used to indicate a habitual or repeated action (i.e. in that sentence, you are saying it is not your habit to wonder about things such as closed doors while you are on vacation)....