Grammar help needed....
I was stunned in class last week when a student asked me to form a sentence with a "I had had..." aka, past perfect. Normally with some examples from the book, I´m better able to answer a spontaneous qn. Faced without any materials (it wasn´t in the book) but its part of the syllabus, I had to come up with a sentence myself. Facing a mental block, I came up with the best sentence I could at that time, but it was wrong!
I wrote "If I´d had more money in the past, I would had bought a house". .... Came home and told my hubby and he said that that is no such thing as "would had" only "would have". Under normal circumstances, I would have used "would have", but I thought that since I was using past perfect, I could use the past tense in a conditional sentence.
I´m stuck. Don´t remember my English teachers teaching us that there´s no such thing as "would had". "Would have" is definitely more common but "would had" isn´t wrong, is it? Does "would" always follow an infinitive, or can I use a past tense with it too?
Feedback??? Any English speakers out there? Or English teachers would be even better!
18 comments:
would + infinitive. Always.
Check out this link:
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/english_tenses.htm
GL
Here's what i got from my FAVOURITE teacher - Google :P
The modals are can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, and must.
"The bare infinitive of to have is have -- NOT has or had or having.
All modals must be followed by a bare infinitive."
Hi Pris
I must agree with Stephan that there's no such thing as 'would had'. 'Would' takes into account the past tense. In your sentence, "If I'd had more money, I would had bought a house.", 'had' should be replaced by 'have'. When you wrote that sentence, you were referring to the past, so if you had money in the past, you would buy a house then. If you use 'would had', then you are going back to an even earlier time than the past, which in your sentence, it's illogical. So at the time when the sentence was written/spoken, you were 'lamenting' that if in the past you had more money, you would probably have bought a house then. We refer to the time when the event took place and when it was spoken/written and use the appropriate tense markers. 'Would had' does not exist. Hope this helps. (I don't really know how to explain it any clearer, but if I'm in this situation, this will be my explanation to my students.)
Grammar rules state: would + have + past participle. So, "If I'd had more money, I would have bought a house." At the time you wrote/spoke this sentence, you were referring to the past (If I'd had more money". So, if you had more money in the past, when you wrote/spoke that sentence, you decided that you would have wanted to buy a house.
Hmmm, not sure, I just hate it when people add the word "at" to the end of a sentence... agh
Dear GL. Is that your initials or does it stand for "good luck"? The link was great! I printed out a copy for myself. :) You sound German! "....de" website.
Dear Serene! Hahaha, I saw the exact comments online too! Was this question easy as pie for you, or did you have to research first before coming up with a conclusion?
Dear Cyn. Wow. What can I say. What a comprehensive and long answer! Its really clear! Thanks a lot! The student didn´t realize that it was wrong, cos she´s struggling with lots of other aspects of English and not necessarily only grammar...so that was a close shave! hahaha...
Haha Pris! I suggest you clarify with her, just in case, she writes that in her essays and gets marked down for grammar. She may then turn around and put the blame on you. It can be done privately. ;)
Advise pupils to use simple past tense to get rid of those queen english high sounding, upper-class, complicated and confusing grammer...No wonder, some of the disgruted locals migrated to U.S....ha..ha..
Dear archie, what type of sentences do you end with a "at"? Have no idea! Here in Germany, people do end sentences with an "or"..... sorta like instead of saying "...., is it?" they say "...., or?" - direct translation from German.
Early migrants - hmmm, I wish it were so easy! I don´t have that option though, since I´m an English teacher (trying to be) and I ´d have to explain grammar rules. hahaha....half the time, I´m wondering if I´m really teaching people the correct thing (so far so good! ) hahaha..... U sound English!
Reckon I'd be better in telling you what to do in English than in German. You tend to be better in your second language because you learn it and its grammar from scratch. Could have answered your question but never ask me about German grammar. Can't even distinguish between 'hochdeutsch' and slang nowadays! ;) Sad really... :)
Hey sabrina
Yup! Tell me about it. There are some grammar "rules" that I never even knew about. But then again, its better not to be bogged down by "rules" because rules are meant to be changed anyways! hahahaha...
People seem to use it when asking locations "Where is my coat at?"
Hi Pris, hope you managed to sort it out with your student.
Definitely would + have. Modal + infinitif blah blah.
Sometimes when you're not sure, you can try substituting with another verb e.g. would + go (if you tried "would went" you'll know it wouldn't work).
Hey S. Thanks for your feedback. Yah I´ve already realized that it was the wrong grammar.... thing is I would hardly meet the same students again, since my students change all the time. And even if I do (like 2-3mths later), chances are that I would have forgotten what mistakes I´ve made! So yah, would just have to hope that she doesn´t go around showing other people the sentence that I made on the board! In any case, I can simply say that it was a spelling error! hahah....
Gd one, Pris. Spelling error...but like what S said, substitute the verb with another and see if it works. As educators, we all know that sometimes, we do experience teachers' block and we cannot think straight in front of our students, thereby committing mistakes like this.
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