Friday, July 3, 2020

If + would have = WRONG

Im normally very cautious about not correcting peoples grammar in daily speech, for fear of coming off as an inveterate snob. As a matter of fact, it makes me very self-conscious when people not preparing for the SAT or the ACT make jibes about how theyd better watch their grammar around me. Unless explicitly asked to comment, I keep my mouth shut. That said, the one thing that truly makes me grimace when I hear it in public conversation is a statement along the lines of the following: Well, if we only would have known the store was going to close at 6, we would have come sooner. I confess, I practically have to physically restrain myself from commenting; its like nails screeching on a blackboard. I know that the construction is (unfortunately) common, but its still flat-out wrong. Heres the short version  of the rule: a clause beginning with if should contain have, not  would have. However, a different clause in the same sentence may contain would have.   The reason is that both  would and  if both signal the conditional that is, they refer to events that could have happened but that did not actually happen. To include both of these terms in the same clause is therefore redundant. Incorrect: If we  would have known the store was going to closer, we would have come sooner. The sentence can also be correctly written this way: Correct: If we  had  known  the store was going to closer, we  would have come  sooner. Correct:  Had we  known  the store was going to closer, we  would have come  sooner. So If I would have, If you would have, If they would have. All wrong. The correct phrases are, If I had, If you had, If she had, etc. So the next time you start to say, If I would have only known you might want to think twice.