By Subjunctives, Past perfect

Unfortunately, we don't have a "past - past perfect." The reference point (from one point of view) is "regretted" - simple past. "Hadn't been kinder" is previous to that. The regretting seems to have followed her death, so the lack of kindness and the...

Hello Rotter,I would think of it as a past perfect (or pluperfect) subjunctive. It is clearly counterfactual. Best wishes, MrP

, (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...

This is more interesting than it seems at first blush. My ear says you must use "had." But where is the time reference? I suppose we go by context. You'll be on vacation when you do the caring, so the act of closing / not closing is prior to going on vacation. Probably since...

Mister Micawber wrote:Yes. And past perfect is wrong here; simply 'as if I had a disease'. Thanks, Mister. But shouldn't we use "had+p.p" when it's subjunctive in the past?

Hello Rotter, Mister M's examples differ because they use they verb "to be", whereas your examples use the verb "to contest". Thus the correct forms (for the context you intend) are: 1. If BB had contested the election, she would have won. — the underlined part is the past perfect of the verb...

This situation is a little different than your type III conditional formula is intended for. The speaker is not in Ian's position, so the phrase is a "condition contrary to fact". In that situation a formal speaker or writer would use the subjunctive mood of the verb rather than indicative or...

Yes, you can call it subjunctive mood. CJ

Isn't it a Subjunctive Mood, is it?

This is not past perfect indicative BTW, it is the past perfect (plus perfect) subjunctive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood#The_pluperfect_subjunctive One main reason of using it in this case is our typical interpretation of the past perfect as preceding a past event, which...