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missdaredevil · Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 1670 Location: Ask me

If I were to visit you, I would probably stay at a youth hostel.

I have a problem using tenses in hypothetic situations.
What are other tenses that can apply?

Thanks

CP · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 2875 Location: California

There is a sequence of tenses in making statements about hypothetical situations. Sports announcers are the worst offenders when it comes to mangling the tenses. Here are some examples that I hope will help:

If I go to France, I will visit Paris.
If I went to France, I would visit Paris. / If I were to go to France, I would visit France
If I had gone to France, I would have visited Paris.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

Anuradha Chepur · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 933

We can also conjure up stuff like:

If I'm going to france, I 'll visit paris.

If I should go to France, I'll visit Paris.

Should I go to France, I'll visit Paris.

Had I gone to France, I'd visit Paris.

Veravera · Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 53

Dear teachers,

"He would tell immediately I was trying to cheat on him."

I'd like to know is that a hypothetic situation or that actually happened in the past?
Thanks!

iitimone7 · Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 400 Location: Indiana, USA

veravera - first of all, the sentence that you provided does not make any sense. here are better ways to say what you meant...

I just want you to know that he cheated on his homework by copying from my paper which was on my desk.

I just wanted you to know that he cheated from my paper.

He told me that his mother did his homework, which is cheating.

Don't trust him; he's a cheater.

If you cheat from me again, I'm telling the teacher.

iitimone7

redset · Joined: 18 Mar 2006 Posts: 582 Location: England

Veravera · Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 53

Thank you very much,iitimone7 and redset,
Your explaination is clear enough for me to know that the answer is the former, the hypothetical one.Because she met a new boyfriend and wanted to go out with him, but she didn't want to break up with her old boyfriend so quickly, so she consulted one of her girl friends to deal with the situation.
Because there is no 'if' or 'if I were' in the sentence, I was not sure whether it's hypothetical or not.
So, even if there is no 'if' or if I were' in the sentence, it can constitute the hypothetical situation, right?
Thanks!

redset · Joined: 18 Mar 2006 Posts: 582 Location: England

Yeah - hypothetical just means something or a situation which might be true (but you're not sure), or one you can imagine. So because she wants to date the new boyfriend, she and her friend are imagining hypothetical scenarios to see if they can come up with a good way to deal with the situation. The girl realises that if she were to try and date both of them her current boyfriend would be able to tell immediately, so she probably decided that was a bad idea to try in real life Smile

kerstin · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 241 Location: Taiwan

What about
It would be weird if you were my student?
Is that grammatically correct?
Thanks

iitimone7 · Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 400 Location: Indiana, USA

yes, it's perfect.