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Ask for help > There īs something very wrong with this sentence...
There īs something very wrong with this sentence...
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yanogator
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I think pollyanna is interpreting it as I would. The person is looking at a bus schedule and considering the options. I would always use "catch" or "take" rather than "get".
If I caught the earlier bus, I could get home at five. Since it īs a hypothetical situation, we wouldn īt use the present.
If I am making definite plans, I īll say, "If I catch the earlier bus, I īll get home at five."
I hope this makes sense to you.
Bruce |
3 Feb 2010
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Lana.
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Pollyanna, I guess you īre right. Thanks.
It īs just this is an exam sentence, and none of those who īs taken the exam has got this sentence right. I wouldn īt want to have an erroneous sentence in such an important paper... |
3 Feb 2010
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ntminhkhiem1989
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Hi everyone, I agree with yanogator. To me, I would use "take" instead of "get". So my idea is:
If I had taken an earlier bus, I could have come home at five.
I think there are two reasons:
- The first one is " an earlier bus". There was a bus after then and that bus was definitely late for coming home. So the speaker wanted to take an earlier bus and we could not know exactly which bus was that. Maybe a ten-minute or fifteen-minute earlier bus, that īs not a matter, just earlier and that should be fine.
- The second reason is that we don īt know exactly the real situation for this sentence taken place. I think that it was taken place in the third conditional sentence, it means the speaker was late for coming back home and spoke out for a unreal wish in the past. Suppose that it was in the second condition, it means the speaker mentioned the schedule when he could come home with an earlier bus, this seems to be impossible, because the assumption that he knew the bus schedule to confirm the earlier ones is vague.
That īs my whole idea
Thanks for sharing
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3 Feb 2010
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maoopa
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If it is a grammar mistake, it should be "the earliest", it doesn īt have to do with got or had gotten: the first is 2nd conditional and the other one is 3rd conditional.
"an earlier bus" could also work.
I hope that helps.
Sincerely,
Mauro
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3 Feb 2010
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niacouto
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Well, Lana
I would say:
If I got the earlier bus, I could have come home at 5.
This is a mixed type conditional. There is an earlier bus (according to the timetable I know). I usually get it (but this time I didn īt). As I didn īt get my usual bus, I wasn īt able to come home at 5.
The perfect form refers to the impossible situation.
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3 Feb 2010
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libertybelle
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Lana - you wrote:
If I got the earlier bus, I ____________ (can) come home at 5 o īclock.
Where I come from we īd say:
If I catch the earlier bus, I can be home by five.
or
If I got the earlier bus, I could be home at five or by five.
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4 Feb 2010
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Mar0919
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How about: "If I had gotten the earlier bus, I would īve come home at 5 o īclock."...
Just an idea, how does that sound to you guys? |
4 Feb 2010
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