English Grammar Questions
Q14: Using Conditional Complex Sentence
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| From J.
- USA "... My name is J. I just found your site and I really like it. Keep up the good work. OK here's my question. What is the sequence of tenses in the 'if' part of a third conditional sentence? 'If I hadn't told my father that I found a job, he wouldn't have offered it to me.' I know the meaning of the sentence is a little out of context, but it is the grammar I am after. I can show you the entire letter if you really need the context. What tense should 'found' be? As a native speaker, past simple feels correct, but all of them feel OK to me. As an ESL teacher, I want to show that I had found a job before I told my father, but since it is a third conditional and 'to tell' is already in the past perfect, we do not have (thank God) a 'past past perfect' to show this." The vast majority of our readers appear to be interested in adjectives, adverbs, numerals, prepositions, and syntax: all are very nice, interesting topics. However, the "Achilles' heel" in English grammar is the verb. The English verb is a monster, and few are able to master it appropriately. Therefore, only few grammar books trouble to present the verb in its maximum maximorum extent--though none does it the way LSEG does. It is difficult to understand the above question because it is clear the author is fairly confused about using conditional complex sentence. Nobody is born knowing English grammar; we all have to learn it. Therefore, as long as people do strive to learn grammar, any mistakes they make are excused. Now, during the past 50 years or so, grammar was taught "simplified"; the result today is total confusion among students and teachers as well. Particularly, conditional complex sentence was presented as "having 3 forms"! There is no such thing, dear readers. English grammar is not restrictive; on the contrary, it helps expressing correctly any (logic) meaning. The first thing to do when building a conditional complex sentence is to set the meaning in conditional clause. Note that conditional clause is marked by specific introductory words: "if"; "unless"; "if only"; etc. The second clause in a conditional complex sentence is "main clause". Two scenarios are commonly investigated when building/analyzing conditional complex sentences: 1. the predicate in conditional clause expresses "real action" 2. the predicate in conditional clause expresses "unreal action" Each situation above is regulated by rules; however, the rules governing unreal action are way tougher. English grammar wants us to express, in meaning, unreal action perfectly clear, without any possibility of mistakes. Therefore, unreal action is expressed using only subjunctive verbs in conditional complex sentence, while in main clause we have to use a verb in conditional--this may sound paradoxical, but that's the way things are (the meaning is perfect/complete using only this specific construction). The good news is, there are many exceptions to the above rules which help us extend the range of each scenario presented above. In addition, in LSEG are presented many instances of "subjunctive-equivalent" constructions employing modal defective verbs: this helps expressing more unreal action meanings. Very important is, conditional complex sentence rules form a category of exceptions to the "sequence of tenses". In other words, conditional complex sentence takes precedence to the sequence of tenses. Following is a fragment from LSEG. "THREE FORMS" CONDITIONAL SIMPLIFICATION In many grammar books conditional complex sentence is presented as having "three forms". That is a superficial "description" of Rule S2.2.2, unreal action tenses agreement: it relates to the two instances presented above plus one of the Exceptions presented in Table S2.2.2. However, the alarming aspect is, the three forms simplification is explained based on past indicative tenses, not subjunctive and conditional ones. Of course, some past indicative tenses are similar to the subjunctive or conditional ones, but that is only in form, not in meaning and in structural implementation. The three forms conditional simplification doesn't work, it doesn't sound right, and the meaning makes no sense. Although it appears to be encouraged in some "modern" English grammar books, the three forms conditional complex sentence simplification is a major grammatical error. To conclude, based on the meaning explained by the author, the above conditional complex sentence should be: If I hadn't told my father that I had found a job, he wouldn't have offered it[sic] to me. The first clause in green is the conditional one: it is used to express "unreal action", therefore the verb/predicate is in perfect subjunctive. [Because perfect subjunctive and past perfect indicative have the same form in this instance, the verb in main clause is analyzed: a conditional verb in main clause requires a subjunctive verb in conditional clause, not indicative.] The second clause in red is a direct object subordinate for the predicate in conditional clause. In this instance the sequence of tenses takes effect, therefore the verb/predicate in direct object subordinate is set to past perfect indicative to express/highlight the anteriority of the action. The tricky aspect is the verb "to find": in past tense form, "to find" has the anteriority meaning embedded implicitly, therefore the form in past tense is also valid. In blue is main clause containing the verb in perfect conditional. Conditional complex sentence is a very difficult topic for students, teachers, and even for professional writers/editors. An entire chapter in LSEG is dedicated to presenting conditional complex sentence rules, most exceptions to the rules, and few particular constructions (for example, conditional complex sentence missing one clause). In addition, chapter "Verbs"--the largest in LSEG; it spans on about 150 pages--helps understanding and extending the range of conditional complex sentence. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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