0
Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Nagging conditional problem

0Hi,02br
02br
00I think I have asked a similar question before and Marius supplied me with helpful answers and references (?) but after looking at those sources, I could not still figure out what to make of these nagging questions. Could you help me? I went to the Google Book Search and think I have found this:02br
02br
01i00If you have it, I could perhaps.02i02br
02br
00If the if-clause is in present tense, the modal 'could' should not be used and should resort to the past if-clause to create the hypothetical nature (as Marius seemed to have recommended).02br
02br
01i00If I had money, I 01u00could use02u00 it to buy a present to Marius.02i02br
02br
00Can I apply the same principles to the question form of the conditional?02br
02br
01b01i00If you have money, 01u00could02u00 you lend me some?02i02b02br
02br
00Why is this correct when the if-clause is in the present tense and the modal 'could' is used in the main clause.02br
02br
00Sorry Marius, I spent a lot time trying to find answers to those above questions but ended up less fruitful than expected. Could anyone help me with this? 0-
  

Top answer

0 "Could" is a troublesome word because of its causual nature which is hard to explain with set rules. 02br 00We often use "could" in the present. e.

— Goodman

Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

5 Answers
0
0 "Could" is a troublesome word because of its causual nature which is hard to explain with set rules. 02br
00We often use "could" in the present. i.e. Could you please pass the salt and pepper if you don't mind?02br
00Also in conditional: If you asked me, I could have done it for you already. 0-
0
0
0Thank you. I thought that might have been the case: a case of different uses of the same modal 'could'.02br
02br
00What also baffles me is the inclusion of the word 'then' after the if-clause? Does it possibly make a sentence less conditional or doesn't make any difference: it is a conditional whethjer it has the word 'then' or not?02br
02br
00If you hav
0
0
0>Can I apply the same principles to the question form of the conditional?02br
00Yes, but: 02br
00>01b01i00If you have money, 01u00could02u00 you lend me some?02i02b02br
00This should be using 01b00would02b00, as it's about the will of the other person, as well as 01b
0
0
0 01blockquote
01cite10Marius Hancu12cite10>11b11i10If you have money, 11u10could12u10 you lend me some?12i12b12br
10This should be using 11b10would12b10, as it's about the will of the other person, as well as 11b10had, 12b10to create t
0
0
0CB, you're on to something. 02br
00Well, really there are (at least) two situations here: 02br
00- if there's no chance that the other person currently has the money (you know they don't); they might get it only in the future. One should use:02br
02br
01i00If you 01b00had 02b00money, 01b00would02b0
0