Re: [Corpora-List] if + would

From: Parveen Lallmamode (parveenqb@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Mar 22 2006 - 19:47:49 MET

  • Next message: Fryd Marc: "Re: [Corpora-List] if + would"

    Thank you all for your input, specially to Ramesh, Jean-Charles and Mark.

    I find it difficult to digest this construction even though I am not a prescriptivist. In Br Eng, we find the following construction for conditionals:

    If + past tense, ... would (verb). [if he came, we would go ....]
    If + past perfect, ... would have (+ past participle).[if he had come, we would have gone ]

    While in Am Eng, I was told that the conditionals can take the following forms:

    If + would (verb), ... would (verb). [if he would come, we would go ...]
    If + would have (+ past participle), ... + would have (+ past participle). [if he would have come, we would have gone ....]

    I am interested in more genre-related data for the 'if + would + would' grammatical construction. For example, I would like to know if these constructions are really a standard practice and whether we can accept them in formal academic writing.

    Thank you much in advance.



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