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Bring Back the Subjunctive! | ||
Tags: Morphology | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4845 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes  Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 25 of 29 13 July 2012 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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"If I would have" is definitely incorrect English. I hate to be on the prescriptive side again, but in English class we learned that it is always if + present or past tense (or subjunctive, if you will). The conditional or the future tense can only be used in the second part of the conditional clause which explains the consequence.
If I were you, I wouldn't do it. If I had seen the dress before, I would have bought it. If I could swim, I would go to the beach. If I see her today, I will tell her the news. The same rule for conditional clauses exists in the Romance languages: Si j'étais toi, je ne le ferais pas. Si je pouvais nager, j'irais à la plage. Se viene domani, andremo in città. Se parlava Italiano, lo capirei. However, why an additional mood, that exists in a lot of languages, would make the language more confusing, is a mistery to me... Edited by Josquin on 13 July 2012 at 3:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5784 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 26 of 29 13 July 2012 at 10:37pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes, it's only correct in certain dialects...for the moment. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 27 of 29 13 July 2012 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I'd say it's more than just certain dialects. The saying "woulda, coulda, shoulda" has been around for a LONG time. R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5784 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 28 of 29 14 July 2012 at 12:31am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Sorry If I'm missing something, but I don't understand. What does "shoulda, woulda, coulda" have to do with the structure "if I would have" (or "if I woulda")? Edited by Random review on 14 July 2012 at 12:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 29 of 29 14 July 2012 at 1:03am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I think it is appearing in British usage more often now. I think there are also variations on that theme, that I couldn't remember when I made my previous post, and can't now either! :-) But with hindsight, I was wrong to go on about how I thought it sounded, and I think I should apologise. Let's just say it's not what I would say. If other people have grown up hearing that said around them, then it's probably right for them. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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