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Guy Courchesne

Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Sashadroogie wrote: |
Actually, I don't think the lyrics are to blame here, but rather the punctuation is what is leading us astray. If you look at how they are usually written:
I just walked in to find you here
with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed my stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second
you'd be back to bother me
No punctuation to guide us, but I think it is clear that the first couple of shoulds are expressing regret at something not done. The 'if I had known' part seems to leave what action the Gloria would have taken unspoken...
As in....
I should have changed my stupid lock!
I should have made you leave your key!
If I had known for just one second
you'd be back to bother me...!
Could be totally wrong of course... |
Good spot! |
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Sashadroogie

Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11061 Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Good spot to both of you guys too. Nobody else seems to have paid it any attention... |
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turtlenecks
Joined: 09 Jul 2010 Posts: 14 Location: Osaka, Japan
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with Twincentre.
Isle, thanks for pointing out my typo. i meant to write 'known'.
As for the lyrics of the song, I agree that it seems that the first two 'shoulds' indeed were meant as standalone statements. The Japanese book however took out the 'I should have made you leave your key' line and combined the other two to make the sentence.
Guty, 'should have' by itself is certainly correct but within a hypothetical conditional sentence, I can't see how it can work. Your examples are not 3rd conditional sentences.
I didn't realize it was old and southern British English. I actually work with a Brit and even he thought it was wrong
Thanks for the input. |
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guty

Joined: 10 Apr 2003 Posts: 365 Location: on holiday
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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| turtlenecks wrote: |
Guty, 'should have' by itself is certainly correct but within a hypothetical conditional sentence, I can't see how it can work. Your examples are not 3rd conditional sentences.
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Neither were yours! I gave examples of the same usage as the ones in the lyric.
Maybe Obama should have changed the locks, or he should have left his key with congress. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Posts: 3292 Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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I'm probably a bit shaky on the rules involved, but what about examples like "If you knew, you should've said" (invented, but Google has examples that are very similar)?
Although the 'if' there would seem equivalent to 'that' (i.e. "You should've said [that/if] you knew" (??/*"[That] you knew, you should've said")), on the surface of things at least an 'if' rather than a 'that' is what was and could be said. |
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