" If I had been present that day , I would have protested. " " If I were present that day , I would have protested. " Which is these sentences is correct ? " If you hadn't misbehaved that day you would be

We often use 'would' when we mean 'used to' (When I was a kid I would stay out until midnight). Quite true. But do the Google exercise I suggested above, and on each Google hit, read it though as it is originally, and then again,

a new Google trick with the asterisks Oh, yes! That's a good trick! You're welcome. CJ

Marvellous. What a brilliant explanation, and I've even learned a new Google trick with the asterisks. Thanks so much.

Great explanation, CJ! I think I feel another meaning in the undertow: that of 'used to', in the descriptive sense. We often use 'would' when we mean 'used to' (When I was a kid I would stay out until midnight). Perhaps

"He walked as fast as the undergrowth and snowdrifts would allow " What is the justification for the conditional in the second half of the sentence? Tough question. In some ways, it is not really a conditional, but an expression of

"He walked as fast as the undergrowth and snowdrifts would allow" What is the justification for the conditional in the second half of the sentence?

4. Finally, is there any possibility of using neither... nor in the original sentence? The answer is 'yes' for some reasons. The first one is language change, whereby structures shift in meaning over a certain time period, allowing for

(continued) 2. You have rightfully broadened the scope of the discussion by questioning the very reasonability of using these correlative coordinators. Indeed, as E. S. C. Weiner once pointed out, a sentence containing correlative coordinators (

Dear friend, I suppose that I have only recently embarked on the march towards reaching the level of an expert whose opinion could be taken for 'expertise'. However, being guided by the knowledge gained from a number of authoritative