English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Ambiguous re-write?

a) Every counter-factual if clause, both the second and third conditional, requires the subjunctive.

Here is a re-write, to prevent a pause between S and V:

b) Every counter-factual 'if clause' requires the subjunctive, both the second and third conditional.

1) Is 'both the second and third conditional' a correlative conjunction, and is the phrase itself modifying (adjectivally) the subject 'every counter-factual if clause'?

2) If this is true, then is the phrase in bold in sentence b too far away from the word it modifies; that is, is it ambiguous?

Thanks!
  

Top answer

[:^)]

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1 Answers