Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[fw]

I�m trying to put a dialogue in Japanese into English. The following is what I have made.

For the blank below, which is better or more natural, #1 or #2?
1. We would already be there
2. We would already have been there

Miho and John are on their way from school to a concert hall. Their bus is caught in a traffic jam, and they are beginning to worry about the time.
Miho: I suppose we�ll miss the first piece. If we had left school 30 minutes earlier, we wouldn�t have run into the evening rush hour.
John: I wish we had taken the subway. ( ).

I think #2 is better and more natural, but I�m not sure. If I wrote #1, would it be not correct in this situation?

[dragn]

Very few people would say #2. The vast majority of native speakers would say #1: "We would already be there." The emphasis is wholly on the fact that we would be there now, instead of crawling along in heavy traffic the way we are now.

I would definitely go with #1.

Greg