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Context: Man uses Holographic projections at 3 places to scare the girl.

Man: Do my friends frighten you?

Girl: They would, if it weren't for the holographic projectors.

Man: What a smart little one.

If I would be in her place, I will say to Man "If They didn't use holographic projectors".

So does her grammar correct?

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  • The conversation is awkward. "Do my friends frighten you?" - all the time, is it habitual? "They would" as an answer to "Do?" is wrong. Commented May 16, 2017 at 11:22
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    Read up about irrealis or subjunctive forms.
    – TimR
    Commented May 16, 2017 at 11:57

2 Answers 2

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I believe, from the context description, that the "friends" are not operating projectors but are actually projections (i.e. the "friends" are not real but are holograms).

Your wording, "If they didn't use holographic projectors," implies that there are actual friends, "they", who are using projectors to project something scary somewhere.

The original wording, "If it weren't for the holographic projectors," suggests that the girl saw the projectors (i.e. projection machines) and surmised that the projected friends were a hoax.

Both are correct. What do you want to say?

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    This does not address the issue at hand, which is that the OP did not understand the syntactical structure of "if it were not for X, Y would Z". This is addressed in the answer below, which should be the accepted answer. Commented Jan 15 at 3:57
  • @JacksonHolidayWheeler - I'm not sure how you came to your conclusion. They would, if they didn't use holographic projectors, is valid syntactically. I am uncertain why you assume the OP is only asking about if not for X, Y would Z, when the OP is also asking about, They would X, if they didn't Y. Both expression are valid. They express different things, however.
    – EllieK
    Commented Feb 29 at 14:05
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If it were not for X, Y would Z or Y would Z if it were not for X is valid grammar and is a common pattern in English used to somewhat dramatically or emphatically express that X prevented Y from doing Z.

Saying Y would Z if X directly is possible, and valid, but less dramatic.

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    Is this some kind of syntax, can you please post in complete sentence? Commented May 16, 2017 at 12:27
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    @RoyAgullana Yes, this is a common syntactical structure in English. For example, "I would love to play sports, if it weren't for all the physical effort." Another example: "I would travel to a new country every week, if it weren't for the huge expense." Commented Jan 15 at 3:56

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