Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sejpdw]

"I moved aimlessly to see the title of essay contest on my teacher's desk.
An honest man would have looked away as soon as he saw it. I did not. It was the sort of temptation almost anyone would have yielded to."

In this passage, "would have past participle" was used twice.
I've learned that "would have past participle" means
#1. "logical probability" such as " That would have been Sydney." or
#2 " conditional situation" such as "It would have been nice if he'd thanked you."

In this passasge, the first and second "would have past participle" was used as #1 or #2?

[CP]

"I moved aimlessly to see the title of essay contest on my teacher's desk.
An honest man would have looked away as soon as he saw it. I did not. It was the sort of temptation almost anyone would have yielded to."

Both refer to logical possibility or probability. Most likely an honest man would have looked away, and most likely anyone would have yielded to the temptation to look. Unless almost no one is an honest man, these two thoughts are not logically consistent, but that is the author's problem.

By the way, it should be "the essay contest," not "essay contest," in the first sentence.

Yours truly, CP

[Jintii]

Actually, I'd say it's #2.

The situation is that I was trying to see the title of the essay contest. Honest men don't do that kind of thing; they look away from things they are not supposed to see. But I'm not an honest man, so I looked.

If I were an honest man, I would have looked away.
An honest man would have looked away.

I hope that helps.