In Direct speech^x, Conditionals^x

Definitely not the present perfect! The second 'if' in your sentence means 'whether', so I'm going to change it in order to avoid any "if' confusion".- If I was on vacation, the last thing I would care about would be whether I had closed the fridge."The...

Basically, the reactor Now, don't tear your hair out and start screaming, but the second of the two series above is sometimes taken to mean the same as the first series! -- that is, taken to refer to what was then the future instead of what was then the past. My recommendation, if...

I see "worked" and "lost" as a sort of reported zero conditional.The manager's direct speech in the past may have been this:"Either you work on a Saturday or you lose your jobs."The meaning is this:"You have two choices. If you work on a Saturday, you don't lose your jobs. If you don't work...

Uh-oh! This is a difficult question! I lost a lot of time trying to understand how to use conditional sentences in reported speech, and in the end I didn't even understand completely! However, let's see if I can explain what I think: He thought his mother would understand why he was living...

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

Hi Quoc Your sentence structure is fine. I'm not sure what you mean by "report" it. Your sentences would be the direct speech used to talk about the letter you want(ed) to write on Saturday: On Friday (yesterday) you decided to try to write a letter on Saturday. So, on Friday your direct...

because if he ………….. on the sea the day after, he ……………"he went to sea" ; and you will need a conditional for the drowning phrase.

Eh, Rothkowitz, this has sometjhing to do with what I just asked! (see the thread "If I knew what you knew") It seems both "I wish I could say I was happy" and "I wish I could say I'm happy" can be used with the same meaning. Anyway, I think that the sentence with "was" sounds better, maybe...

IMO, this is indirect/reported speech (said) and conditionals (would) In direct speech, Solvedt says at the time of the interview: "I think that Denpack turnover would double within five years from today. " (I don't think he's certain about it) In reported speech in the past: Last...

Clive wrote: As they said when I registered her at the gym, the fact was that the gym had this policy that (or by which/under which) she would be reimbursed if she were not to like it. (or if she didn't like it - a more common way to say it) How English Works wrote: future in the...