Timeline for If you came [had come] tomorrow, I might be [have been] able to help you.
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
19 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 20, 2016 at 3:24 | comment | added | facts machine | That's a good one. Thank you. Some of the difficulty here is due to "come" being an irregular verb. For a laugh, substitute the right declension of come in the sunny examples. | |
| Sep 19, 2016 at 4:03 | comment | added | V.V. | @factsmachine Read the link I found. | |
| Sep 18, 2016 at 16:16 | comment | added | facts machine | @Vronsky. I hope I answered your question in the previous comment. The clause "If you had come tomorrow..." just doesn't make any sense to me. I guess I would need to re-write it as "If you (had) planned to come tomorrow.." | |
| Sep 18, 2016 at 16:11 | comment | added | facts machine | I somewhat agree. "Had you come tomorrow" is nonsense, because had is a past tense verb that conflicts with the future tomorrow, not because it sounds formal. "If you'd come" is useful, techically correct, but ambiguous. If you are talking about yesterday, it means "If you HAD come," but if you are talking about tomorrow, it means "If you would/could come." | |
| Sep 18, 2016 at 15:36 | comment | added | Peter Shor | You say "Regarding number 1, the introductory clause is usually said/written as 'Had you come tomorrow.'" I disagree – "had you come" is old-fashioned and formal, and most native English speakers would say "if you'd come." | |
| Sep 18, 2016 at 15:22 | comment | added | facts machine | @Peter You are right! The meanings are the same, but using 'if' pulls in a lot of grammar exceptions that have not been formally settled. .Using modal verbs like had pulls in another set, and using both sets together results in some ambiguous constructs. No one would say that "Had you came.." is correct, but whether you say "If you come..." or "If you came" on whose rules you are following. Most people would say "If you had come," rather than "If you had came," and the rule for modal verbs is the reason. | |
| Sep 18, 2016 at 14:25 | comment | added | Peter Shor | Had you come is equivalent to If you had come, except for being somewhat old-fashioned and more formal. As a native speaker, I don't see any difference between them in meaning. | |
| Sep 18, 2016 at 9:00 | comment | added | Vronsky | > Future events are not (yet) counterfactual But if we know that a future event is counterfactual, wouldn't use of 'if'' be incorrect? For example, I know that you will not come tomorrow, would the sentence (1) in this case be incorrect? | |
| Sep 18, 2016 at 4:10 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
augmentation
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 4:04 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
augmentation
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 3:55 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
add reference from an example
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 3:41 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
corrected reference URL
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 3:35 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 127 characters in body
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 3:30 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 127 characters in body
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 3:22 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
fixed grammar
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 3:06 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 46 characters in body
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 2:59 | history | edited | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 46 characters in body
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| Sep 18, 2016 at 2:47 | review | First posts | |||
| Sep 18, 2016 at 2:53 | |||||
| Sep 18, 2016 at 2:46 | history | answered | facts machine | CC BY-SA 3.0 |