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Old 18-Jun-2004, 14:26
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Default Re: Really Mixed Conditionals

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdol
Any comments?
I think the sentence would work better with "were" in the "if" clause.

As it stands, I would accept either modal.

With should, it means that if he is a good doctor (and presumably was then) one can legitimately expect a correct diagnosis from him.

With would, it means that a good doctor would have made a correct diagnosis; since this one did not, he is probably not a good doctor.
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