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#2 (permalink) Sun May 11, 2008 5:06 am Conditional sentence: If I ... (know) you weren't going to come tomorrow, I... |
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Hi Kidnapper
In theory, it could be a type 2 conditional: Type 2: If I knew you weren't going to come tomorrow, I wouldn't buy any food.
Or it could be a type 3 conditional (type 3 is more likely, in my opinion): Type 3: If I had known you weren't going to come tomorrow, I wouldn't have bought any food.
In either case, the word 'tomorrow' is used because tomorrow is tomorrow at the time the sentence is spoken.
For example: Let's say today is Friday and tomorrow is Saturday. I went shopping for food at 10 o'clock this morning (Friday). It is now 5 pm on Friday, and you have just said this to me: "I am not going to come tomorrow." (Tomorrow = Saturday) My response could be "If I had known (before I went shopping this morning) that you weren't going to come tomorrow, I wouldn't have bought any food." (Tomorrow = Saturday) . |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8265 Location: USA
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#3 (permalink) Sun May 11, 2008 10:02 am Conditional sentence: If I ... (know) you weren't going to come tomorrow, I... |
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But why it is ''you weren't going..'' but not ''are going'' because to the best of my knowledge ,in type 3 conditional ,in IF-clause ,''had V-ed'' is not the past perfect tense ,it is just a form of verb ,so it can be ''are going'' ,can't it? I just think so  |
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Kidnapper New Member
Joined: 09 May 2008 Posts: 8
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#4 (permalink) Sun May 11, 2008 13:47 pm Conditional sentence: If I ... (know) you weren't going to come tomorrow, I... |
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| kidnapper wrote: | But why it is ''you weren't going..'' but not ''are going'' because to the best of my knowledge ,in type 3 conditional ,in IF-clause ,''had V-ed'' is not the past perfect tense ,it is just a form of verb ,so it can be ''are going'' ,can't it? I just think so  | I'd say this (weren't going to) has to do with the sequence of tenses. Look at these:
1. I know you are not going to come. (i.e. I know X now) 2. I knew you were not going to come. (i.e. I knew X in the past)
The condition in your type 3 conditional sentence is "If I had known (fact X), ...". In that sentence, fact X needs to be worded the same way as in sentence 2 because the reference is to what you thought or didn't think in the past. . |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8265 Location: USA
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