0

Example 1

A girl who is going to help you with your study and all of your trouble does not exist.

Example 2

A girl who told him that he was good-looking does not exist.

The reasons (because-clauses) are my guesses, so they can be imaginary.

So this got me to think: Does this kind of structure have anything to do with a second or third conditional structure or are they just normal past tense and future tense?

Are parts in bold correct?

Improve this question
4
  • 2
    They are nothing to do with conditionals. You are just using clauses to describe that non-existent girl.
    – Kate Bunting
    Oct 31, 2022 at 12:35
  • To expand on what Kate said, the topic of your sentence has nothing to do with the grammar. Using the words "does not exist" does not change the grammar to unreal. You need proper grammar structures like [ "if" + simple past ] or equivalent.
    – gotube ♦
    Oct 31, 2022 at 17:03
  • Almost all conditional sentences require an if. A few don't but those usually imply it. [If[ he were to leave, we would know it.
    – Lambie
    Jan 4 at 22:42
  • Question is very unclear. Recommended action is to remove one example and only ask one question about it.
    – fertilizerspike
    Jan 5 at 7:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Example 2 could work if you change "A girl" to "The girl". That way, you can express the fact that he was delusional, since he told you about a compliment from a non-existent person.

If you want Example 2 to sound like Example 1 (i.e. no girl would ever compliment him), you would need to say, "A girl who would tell him that he was good-looking didn't exist."

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .