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hheyitsme
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Please help with this one!
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Hi!
I am revising for the CAE and am using CAE Gold CD. In their Language Quizz (unit 4) you have to choose one of 4 sentences.
A. He would never have been successful had he not gone to university. B. He would never have been successful if he not gone to university. C. He would never have been successful he not gone to university. D. He would never have been successful if he has not gone to university.
Obviously, sentence A is the right one!
My questions are; - can we say "He would never have been successful if he hadn �t gone to university"? - why have they inverted "he" and "had"? - why haven �t they used the word "if"?
Cheers, S
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24 Mar 2012
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ueslteacher
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Please, reduce the size of the pic! It messes up the forum. BTW Have you tried clicking on the "show answers" button at the bottom? and isn�t this a test on the Unit, so obviously the Unit must contain some grammar rules on that. Sophia
P. S.
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24 Mar 2012
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cunliffe
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�if he hadn �t.... � - your suggestion - is correct. The inversion �had he not gone � is correct, but much more formal language. Is it subjunctive or something? Les? Bruce? |
24 Mar 2012
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Mariethe House
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Please, reduce the size of your picture! The forum is totally distorted because of it!!
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24 Mar 2012
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ueslteacher
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Thanks for reducing the pic:) Sophia |
24 Mar 2012
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hheyitsme
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@Sophia; Thank you for the link, it was useful :)@cunlife; Thank you for the clarification, though I don �t understand where the subjunctive is... Can you elaborate your idea?? |
24 Mar 2012
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PhilipR
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I would elaborate more on the subjunctive were it not so tedious.
I think this tense has overstayed its welcome but refuses to die completely.  |
24 Mar 2012
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cunliffe
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Are there any French or Italian colleagues? They �d be much better at explaining the subjunctive as it �s much more prevalent in their language? Basically, it �s when something isn �t certain, or didn �t happen. I �m getting into hot water here! I �m with PhilipR about it, anyway! |
24 Mar 2012
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hheyitsme
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@cunliffe; I am a French speaker and the subjunctive is always used after certain verbs, i.e. you cannot use any other tense than the subjunctive after the verb vouloir e.g. Je veux que tu ailles faire... There is nothing about certainty here!!! I believe it has a different meaning in English more than politeness, hasn �t it?
@PhilipR; would you please send me a link where I can find a thorough explanation about this immortal tense? :P |
24 Mar 2012
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cunliffe
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Oh sorry! I thought you had said you didn �t understand WHAT the subjunctive was! |
24 Mar 2012
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