Reported speech is dealing with a slightly different issue, I think. This is changing tense due to backshifts. I'm wanting to know what determines the tense of a conditional when there is a verb outside the conditional: I left home early to make sure if I got lost, I would have extra time. What happ...

Ah, what a good idea. Thank you. I'll do just that.

Alas, my knowledge of embedded conditional clauses is somewhat iffy.

I don't know who to ask, or where to ask for answers. All sites explaining conditionals never explain such conditional sentences. If you know of any...

Because I haven't had a shower yet. I'd hate to be hanged not looking my best.

Yes, that is my understanding. Likelihood has only some influence over the conditional used. More important is the tense used in the conditional. In other words, we label a conditional based on what tense and mood is used, which subsequently, more often than not, creates a consistent degree of likel...

Sorry, but I'm inclined to call a sentence first conditional only if it is present indicative. The formula is just too engrained into my head for me to consider an alternate one:

1st conditional: if + present simple (indicative), simple future.

Once again there is some irregularities in the discussion on conditionals on the web: some say the 2nd conditional only refers to the future, but this is irrelevant to my post. Assuming we all agree that the 1st conditional is a future conditional, the 2nd conditional is a present or future conditio...

Would a simple comma after painkillers do the same here? I don't think so. I would call both adverbial clauses restrictive, which means that they would not be separated from their main clause by commas unless they preceded them. Aye, I thought about simply reversing the order, but I thought I'd giv...

Sap's example is just an alternative construction--which is still the subjunctive, but which stresses the unlikely nature of the situation. Both 'should' and 'were to' are used for this. OK, but "I should get lost" or "I were to get lost" make the sentence sound very wordy, even...

What about this one? I left home early to make sure I would have extra time in case I were to get lost. The uncertainty of getting lost seems to call for the subjunctive. Sounds stuffier, but the meaning is certainly clear. But surely "I got" is already subjunctive here. "I got"...

Seems to me it's dependent on the phrase "in case". With that in there, #1 works. If in case was replaced with a simple if , then #3 works best, and the whole sentence flows better: I left home early to make sure I would have extra time if I got lost. -but either one denotes a conditional...

Thanks for your posts, guys. It is an interesting sentence, with much debate over how it should be written. You could argue the first reads best and is also technically correct, due to the simplification of tenses. But then you could also argue that the simplfication of tenses here hides the subjunc...

'between' may be the correct word to use, but this doesn't necessarily mean the sentence is devoid of ambiguities. As Slava showed, there are clearer alternatives.

My bad. Most of the threads are anchient, so when I had a quick glance at the thread and saw the date 2006, I took this to be the start date. Turns out it was the date one of the posters joined the forum. :oops: Aye, oops. However, you're forgiven. Now, back to our muttons here: what do you think o...

My bad. Most of the threads are ancient, so when I had a quick glance at the thread and saw the date 2006, I took this to be the start date. Turns out it was the date one of the posters joined the forum.