Search results for 'tag:Conditionals tag:Plurals' matching tags 'Conditionals' and 'Plurals'

would

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:17:49 GMT

Hi,

I learned and think the modal 'would' is used for these purposes:

1) as a conditional element, 2) past form of the modal "will" and 3) to show repetition in the past

For the writing below, do a conditional element and the usage as a past form of "will" present? How about no.3? When we see the modal "would" being used in a sentence that has the scenario set in the past, would I be smart to assume it carries a sense of the past although at first and many readings of it may not let me knowt so easily?

Days later, she experienced pain. By June, her diet was limted to bread and water. Anything else would induce the abdominal pain. Thinking that it was her intestine that caused the pain, she went to ...

Sorry, why does it have to be plural verbs?

1 in 10 Asians are infected with ...

1 in 4 people who have *** end up ...

Re: Reported Speech

Grammar Geek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:19:45 GMT

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 it.

Quote 1: "The oil price has been pulling back because the disruption in the oil pipeline supply in Iraq has been resolved," announced Victor Shum.Reported Speech 1: Victor Shum announced the oil prices had been pulling back because the disruption in the oil pipeline supply in Iraq had been resolved. You made price plural. You can keep present or use past.

Quote 2: An official from Iraq's South Oil Co. said that "everything returned to normal as of 10 p.m. Thursday"Reported Speech 2: An official from Iraqâs South Oil Co. said everything returned to normal as of 10 p.m. Thursday. Use "had returned" here

Quote 3: "Canada is becoming a de-industrialized country," Mr. Velan saidReported Speech 3 : Mr Velan said that Canada is becoming a de-industrialized country. Okay. Also okay to use "was becoming"

Quote 4: "No matter what else you say about Mr. Flaherty, he's not giving away the store. He's been very prudent," said William Anderson.Reported Speech 4: William Anderson said no matter what else you said about Mr. Flaherty, he does not give away the store. He has been very prudent. You switched back in tense with say to said, but kept "does" in the present. I'd keep them both present.

Quote 5: "If you built Rolls-Royces in China, you'd never get another sale. The product has to be fantastic," stated Brathwaite.Reported Speech 5 : Mr. Brathwaite stated that if you built Rolls-Royces in China, you would never get another sale. The product has to be fantastic. Okay. The original quote looks like a mixed conditional to me, making tense shifting tricky.

Quote 6: Mr. MacDonald said. "It's just an issue of what Canadian companies will be affected by reductions in demand in the U.S."Reported Speech 6 : Mr. MacDonald said itâs just an issue of what Canadian companies are being affected by reduction in demand in the U.S. No, the original uses "will be" - you can't shift to "are."

Quote 7: ââBorrowers with less than stellar credit scores or those trying to finance expensive houses are still struggling to get mortgages,ââ Mr. Gumbel added.Reported Speech 7: Mr Gumbel added that burrowers with less than stellar credit score or those trying to finance expensive will still be struggling to get mortgages. No, you moved from "are" to "will."

Quote 8: âA year ago, we were told the problems were in subprime, â said David RosenbergReported Speech 8: David Rosenberg said that a year ago, they were told the problems would be in subprime. No, were doesn't move to would be. Just leave it as were.

Quote 9: "Production capabilities are running behind demand," says Joel Plasco, CEO of Collins StewartReported Speech 9: Ceo of Collins Stewart, Joel Plasco said that production capabilities were running behind demand. Okay

Quote 10: "Many of our customers are making money from the price of oil," Cannatelli saysReported Speech 10: Cannatelli said that many of his customers were making money from the prices of oil. Okay

Welcome to the forums. I told you answers were usually pretty quick.

Re: Passport files of candidates breached

CalifJim — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:33:16 GMT

Way, way, way too much in one post! Maybe next time you could split these into separate posts?

Jackson6612
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the violations of McCain and Clinton's passport files were not discovered until Friday, after officials were made aware of the unauthorized access of Obama's records and a separate search was conducted.

Question: When did the officials come to know about the violations of McCain and Clinton's passport files - before or after the unauthorized access of Obama's record?

According to the quoted statement, it was after.

Jackson6612
This contract Question: What is a contract employee? employee has been ...

A contract employee is someone who is not an employee of the organization he is working at. One company hires another company to provide it employees. These are the contract employees. They go to work at any company that needs them, often temporarily.

Jackson6612
"I can assure you that person's going to be at the top of the list of the inspector general when they talk to people, and we are currently reviewing our (disciplinary) options with respect to that person," McCormack said.

Question: In ''they talk to people what does ''they'' stand for - If it stands for inspector general then inspector general is singular person, not plural?

This may be a mistake. they might stand for inspectors general. Or, the speaker may have been thinking that the people who work for the office of the inspector general were going to talk to others during their investigations. So they stands for the people at the office of the inspector general.

Jackson6612
After speaking with Obama, Rice told reporters: "I told him that I was sorry, and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed."

Question: I would have written, ''I myself would be very disturbed if such a thing has happened to me''. Is my way correct? If I am correct, then why is the shorter form used?

The complete form is I myself would be very disturbed if such a thing happened to me. (Not has happened.) The shorter form is used because the longer form is not necessary. Anybody following the story knows exactly what Rice means.

Jackson6612
The State Department said the Justice Department would be monitoring the probe (=an investigation in which many questions are asked to discover the truth about something) in case it needs to get involved.

Question: I couldn't understand the part where it says ''it needs get involved''.

in case the Justice Department needs to get involved / if the Justice Department needs to do something about the situation

Jackson6612
"Have they asked us to become involved â no," Mukasey told reporters during a Friday briefing. "When, as, and if we have a basis for an investigation, including a reference â that is, one basis would be a reference â we could conduct one."

Question: What is a reference? I couldn't find any meaning which fitted in the context. And I also couldn't understand the part ''when, asn and if''.

I'm not sure what they mean by reference. It could be the name of a specific person who acted improperly.

when, as, and if we have ... means when we have ... and as we have ... and if we have ....

Jackson6612
I don't want to speculate but if somebody walked in here with a box full of evidence, they wouldn't be turned away (=to refuse to allow sb/sth to enter a place)."

Question: I would have used ''walks'' instead of ''walked''. What do you say on this? What does ''they'' stand for?

It's a second conditional structure. IF [past] (then) ... WOULD ... they refers to the "somebody that walked in", whoever that may be.

Jackson6612
McCormack declined to name the companies that employed the contractors, despite demands by a senior House Democrat that such information is in the public interest.

Question: What are these companies? What is a House Democrat?

See the explanation above regarding contract employees. A contract employee is also called a contractor. A House Democrat is a member of the Democratic Party who was elected to and is now serving in the United States House of Representatives. (There are a total of 435 representatives.)

Jackson6612
Aside from the file, the information could allow critics to dig deeper into the candidates' private lives. While the file includes date and place of birth, address at time of application and the countries the person has traveled to, the most important detail would be their Social Security number, which can be used to pull credit reports and other personal information.

Question: The part ''aside from the file'' doesn't seem correct in my opinion. I believe it should have been ''aside from the basic personal data. What do you say?
What are credit reports?

Aside from the file means the same thing and is shorter. It's correct as is. Credit reports are reports on a person's finances, particularly from the viewpoint of his ability to pay back any loans.

Jackson6612
The firings (=to be severely criticized for something you have done - used in news reports) and unspecified discipline of the third employee ...

Question: I would have used ''firing'' instead of ''firings''. What do you say?
What does ''unspecified discipline'' mean?

A firing is the dismissal of an employee. The employee is told to leave. He is no longer employed and must try to find another job somewhere else. Two employees were dismissed, that is, fired, so there were two firings. Being fired is a punishment for doing something wrong. Apparently the third employee was not fired for what he did wrong. For his punishment he was disciplined, that is, something was done to punish him. What was done was not specified. In other words, nobody said how the third employee was punished.

Jackson6612
The Washington Times first reported the incident involving Obama.

Question: I would have written: The Washington Times was the first to report.. What do you say?

Your way is certainly also a very good way to state that fact. Both are correct.

Re: He/she/it + were

MrPedantic — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:07:53 GMT

As a footnote:

1. If he were here now, he would be able to answer the question.

2. If she were a little bigger, she wouldn't be quite so small.

The "were" in these examples is called the "past subjunctive". The past subjunctive is used principally in conditional (hypothetical) statements, such as #1 and #2.

Whereas the "normal" past singular is "was" ("I was", "he was", etc.), in the past subjunctive the form is the same ("were") in both singular and plural. (The seemingly odd form derives from the Old English past subjunctive.)

Especially in BrE, it is very common to hear "was" instead of "were", e.g.

3. If he was here now, he would be able to answer the question.

4. If she was a little bigger, she wouldn't be quite so small.

For instance, I heard David Cameron (the leader of the main British opposition party) say in an interview this evening,

5. If I was in the Prime Minister's shoes, I would do XYZ.

(Sorry, I can't remember what he would do, unfortunately. I think it involved sacking someone.)

MrP

Re: Was or Were?

Kooyeen — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:00:43 GMT

Hi,
I think it's definitley "was". The other, "were", doesn't make sense there. There are no conditionals, so it's just a past tense. And it agrees with "it" because that's the way "it's/it was" is used idiomatically:

It's John who decided to go.
It's my parents who decided to go.
It was Jenny who told me.
It was her friends who told me.

Notice that the verb remains singular even if what follows is in the plural. When someone knocks at the door... Who is it? It's her, Jenny... It's them, our friends...

Re: a question of "Simple Present Tense"

Mr. Profenglish — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:47:48 GMT

Anonymous wrote:

Hi everybody,

I have a question about the Negative Form of "Simple Present Tense", please help me.

Can I use "I don't read the book right now" to express the meaning of "I'm not reading the book right now"?

Thanks a lot in advance.

***********

Here is a summary about the present simple tense with all the forms of it plus examples

* * *

Form

Examples

Notes

Affirmative( Positive ) form:

Base form

S- form

1. Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen.

2. The world is round

3. He always eats a sandwich for lunch

4. My classes begin at nine.

5. She prefers to stay at home.

6. He appears to be asleep.

7. That belongs to me.

8. I remember my first teacher.

9. If you study hard, you will pass the exam.

10. If he comes early, he will catch the bus.

Present Simple Tense is used :

i. to show general statement of fact

ii. to express habitual or everyday activity

iii. with verbs of: senses, mental activity, possession and attitudes

iv. with conditional clauses type one.

Remarks:

Â§ Singular subjects take the S-from

Â§ Plural subjects take the Base form

Â§ ( he, she, it ) + S. form

Â§ ( we, they, you, I ) + Base form

S. = subject

inf. = infinitive form of the verb

S- form = verb + s

Base form = verb without ( s )

Negative form:

(do, does + not + inf.

1. They do not work at the hospital.

2. She does not go to the university everyday

Contracted Negative form:

donât + inf.

doesnât + inf.

1. They donât work in a bank.

2. I donât recognize that man

3. She doesnât prefer to stay at home.

Wh- question form :

Wh- + ( do / does ) + S. + inf. + ...?

1. Where do you live?

2. When does she go to work everyday?

3. Why do I like that nonsense?

Yes/No question form :

(Do / Does ) + S. + inf. + â¦ ?

Do they need a help?

Does he mean that book?

Short Answer form :

Yes, + S. + ( do / does ).

No, + S. + ( donât / doesnât )

Yes, he does. / yes, they do. / Yes, I do.

no, I donât. / No, he doesnât / No, they donât.

***

Regards,

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Re: Which one is correct? (conditional clause)

Yankee — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:18:09 GMT

Hi Goodman

You often make some very good and legitimate points, but your decision to post that "he is in troubles again with the laws" sentence was an extremely unfortunate one. The websites you posted prove rather than disprove that. Did you notice that one of the guys who used the expression "is in trouble with" also said this: "The only man who need to be Critize is..." If you look more closely at the Google results for a particular usage, you should be able to weed out most of the ones in which people have simply made errors.

I agree that the word trouble is also used as a plural -- but not the way you tried to illustrate it in that one particular sentence.

Re: Which one is correct? (conditional clause)

Goodman — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:56:34 GMT

Yoong Liat wrote:
Hi Goodman
I searched for 'run into troubles' but found 'run into trouble' instead. The following is just one of the extracts.

Oxford University Google Search

Oxford University > Search Oxford University > Search Results

powered by

Search the Web Search ox.ac.uk

Web Searched pages from ox.ac.uk for run into troubles. (0.06 seconds)

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
(If you run into trouble with this the simplest option is to abort the integral routine and try again!). You. may now have to adjust the slope of the ...
www.chem.ox.ac.uk/spectroscopy/nmr/PDFs/ac_user.PDF - Similar pages

Liat,

Fine, if you believe and insist that what you learned is true, I don't want you to change your opinion on my behalf.

I know you searched for "if you run into trouble...".Have you tried others? (when you..../ should you.../ in case you ...?

My point is, the book's answers don't always explain everything. In this case, "troubles" as in the plural context discussed, is just as valid as it's singular cousin.

One can have trouble with marriage, job and finance at the same time, so what is wrong with plurals, as in "having troubles"!

Re: Which one is correct? (conditional clause)

Goodman — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:33:03 GMT

Yoong Liat wrote:
Neeraj Jain wrote:

Hi Goodman,

I guess that you cannot use "troubles". The right word is "trouble".

Hi Jain

I agree with you.

Trouble is usually an uncountable noun. Are you having trouble /[troubless]with your car? Plural is also fine.

get/run into trouble

Your troubles are your worries: Sit down and forget your troubles (OR problems) for a minute.

(Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)

Hi Liat,

If I were to gather an impression of your comments, I am picking up some contradiction in your examples. You agreed with Jain in the opening but you also recited some examples in plural. Can you elaborate?

Re: wish clauses

Goodman — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:52:34 GMT

Yoong Liat wrote:
Hi Goodman

You wrote: I have been labeled and called by many descriptions, hinted being âIgnorantâ is the first ...

I'm not hinting that you're ignorant. I say that if a learner tells me "informal" means "wrong", I'll understand that he says so because he is ignorant. But you are not a learner. You're one of the members who have a good command of English. So that's why I say it's not correct for you to say that a usage, which is classified as "informal", is wrong.

I've reproduced below what Michael Swan has to say about "I wish I was ... " and "I wish it wasn't ..." and let the members decide whether you're right to say "I wish it was not raining" or "I wish it wasn't raining" is a wrong usage.

We can use 'wish' to express regrets - to say that we would like things to be different. We use a past tense with a present meaning in this case.
I wish I was better-looking.
I wish it wasn't raining.

In a formal style, we can use 'were' instead of 'was' after 'I wish'.
I wish I were better-looking.

(Basic English Usage by Michael Swan)

Best wishes.

Liat,

With our differences in point of view, I appreciate your reply. For all intents and an purposes, I am still a learner on a different level but I perhaps have the advantage being in a completely English environment and therefore, I may appear to have better command. That said, I do feel there is a certain slight inconsistency among all the different English websites, particularly on the subjunctive. There should not be any argument that âIf I wereâ or âI wish I wereâ is a subjunctive mood. The difference of the agruement really lies in the defining of the rules and the mood expressed in the senstence. The early website quoted âI wish I wasâ as informal.

In reality, after reading this article, that is indeed incorrect. The bottom line, " I wish I was" is against the subjunctive ruels. Take a look at the explanation on this website then you may come to agree with what I said in my earlier threads.

Confusingly enough, in the "self test", some of of the answers are considered "acceptable" or "informal" by some. I should hope that this piece will settle all questions about indicative and subjunctive moods.

Subjunctive Mood

However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] ...
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GIW Home		writeDate(); Mon Oct. 8, 2007 \| Tell a Friend \| Subscribe \| Order Our Book
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	Writing Tip: July 30, 2001 The Subjunctive Mood Examine the verbs in each of the following sentences: 1. If Harrison were chosen to be the next chief executive officer of the corporation, several controversial hiring practices would change. 2. If I were you, I would increase my weekly contribution to the company-sponsored retirement fund. 3. I wish that his report were longer. 4. We recommend that the trip be postponed because of violence in the region. 5. The finance department requests that he submit updated budget projections each month. All the above sentences are correct. Two terms apply to the mood of English verbs: indicative and subjunctive. An indicative verb makes a statement that is factual, whereas a verb in the subjunctive mood is used to indicate a situation or condition that is hypothetical, doubtful, or conditional. In the indicative mood, we would never write "Harrison were," "I were," "report were," "trip be," or "he submit," but these verbs are correct in the examples above because each of the sentences is written in the subjunctive mood; that is, in every case, the sentence is describing a situation that is hypothetical or conditional: 1. Harrison is not now the C.E.O., but hypothetically he could be chosen for that position. The conditional nature of the position is suggested by the word if. 2. Again, as the word if makes clear, I am not, in fact, you. So once again the situation is hypothetical and conditional: I would save more only under the condition that I became you. 3. His report is not, in fact, longer, so the sentence speaks of a hypothetical situation. 4. The trip is not currently postponed, so the subjunctive mood is appropriate to suggest a possibility, not an actuality. 5. He is not currently submitting reports monthly, so we use the subjunctive mood to discuss the possibility--not the actuality--of his doing so. For all verbs except to be, the present subjunctive mood is most often made by omitting the characteristic s ending on verbs with third-person singular subjects. Thus, whereas in the indicative mood we would write "man leaves," in the subjunctive mood we would omit the s on the verb leave: "The judge insisted that the man not leave town." For the verb to be, we simply use be for all present tense subjunctive mood verbs and were for all past tense forms, regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (New York: MJF Books, 1993) points out that while many subjunctive-mood phrases are commonly used in ordinary speech--"if I were you," "if need be," "far be it from me," and so on--strict use of the subjunctive mood is rare, even in the most formal speaking and writing situations (243). Very few people would write, for example, "If he arrive on time, we will have dinner before the show." However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] to arrive on time, we could have dinner before the show." The Harbrace College Handbook (13th edition) lists other common, fixed expressions that are stated in the subjunctive mood: "so be it," "be that as it may," "as it were," and "God bless you" (99-100). TEST YOURSELF Which of the following sentences need verbs in the subjunctive mood? 1. If I was Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones is chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation was longer. 4. It is critical that every potential donor gives blood during this shortage. ANSWERS 1. If I WERE Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones BE chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation WERE longer. This is almost the exact sentence identified as correct in your past post. 4. It is critical that every potential donor GIVE blood during this shortage. Copyright 2001 Get It Write More Tips \| Tell a Friend *Special Request:* Please share these tips with friends and colleagues and encourage them to subscribe. (If you post the tips to an internal distribution list of any size, please tell us the nature of the list and the number of subscribers. We would like to know how many people we are reaching with this service. We appreciate your positive feedback and excellent comments!)



GIW Home		writeDate(); Mon Oct. 8, 2007 \| Tell a Friend \| Subscribe \| Order Our Book
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	Writing Tip: July 30, 2001 The Subjunctive Mood Examine the verbs in each of the following sentences: 1. If Harrison were chosen to be the next chief executive officer of the corporation, several controversial hiring practices would change. 2. If I were you, I would increase my weekly contribution to the company-sponsored retirement fund. 3. I wish that his report were longer. 4. We recommend that the trip be postponed because of violence in the region. 5. The finance department requests that he submit updated budget projections each month. All the above sentences are correct. Two terms apply to the mood of English verbs: indicative and subjunctive. An indicative verb makes a statement that is factual, whereas a verb in the subjunctive mood is used to indicate a situation or condition that is hypothetical, doubtful, or conditional. In the indicative mood, we would never write "Harrison were," "I were," "report were," "trip be," or "he submit," but these verbs are correct in the examples above because each of the sentences is written in the subjunctive mood; that is, in every case, the sentence is describing a situation that is hypothetical or conditional: 1. Harrison is not now the C.E.O., but hypothetically he could be chosen for that position. The conditional nature of the position is suggested by the word if. 2. Again, as the word if makes clear, I am not, in fact, you. So once again the situation is hypothetical and conditional: I would save more only under the condition that I became you. 3. His report is not, in fact, longer, so the sentence speaks of a hypothetical situation. 4. The trip is not currently postponed, so the subjunctive mood is appropriate to suggest a possibility, not an actuality. 5. He is not currently submitting reports monthly, so we use the subjunctive mood to discuss the possibility--not the actuality--of his doing so. For all verbs except to be, the present subjunctive mood is most often made by omitting the characteristic s ending on verbs with third-person singular subjects. Thus, whereas in the indicative mood we would write "man leaves," in the subjunctive mood we would omit the s on the verb leave: "The judge insisted that the man not leave town." For the verb to be, we simply use be for all present tense subjunctive mood verbs and were for all past tense forms, regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (New York: MJF Books, 1993) points out that while many subjunctive-mood phrases are commonly used in ordinary speech--"if I were you," "if need be," "far be it from me," and so on--strict use of the subjunctive mood is rare, even in the most formal speaking and writing situations (243). Very few people would write, for example, "If he arrive on time, we will have dinner before the show." However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] to arrive on time, we could have dinner before the show." The Harbrace College Handbook (13th edition) lists other common, fixed expressions that are stated in the subjunctive mood: "so be it," "be that as it may," "as it were," and "God bless you" (99-100). TEST YOURSELF Which of the following sentences need verbs in the subjunctive mood? 1. If I was Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones is chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation was longer. 4. It is critical that every potential donor gives blood during this shortage. ANSWERS 1. If I WERE Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones BE chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation WERE longer. This is almost the exact sentence identified as correct in your past post. 4. It is critical that every potential donor GIVE blood during this shortage. Copyright 2001 Get It Write More Tips \| Tell a Friend *Special Request:* Please share these tips with friends and colleagues and encourage them to subscribe. (If you post the tips to an internal distribution list of any size, please tell us the nature of the list and the number of subscribers. We would like to know how many people we are reaching with this service. We appreciate your positive feedback and excellent comments!)