I I say/ If I would say

[idiotmike]

Dear all,

If I can asking for a particular usage, should I start by saying

"If I would say something,........" or "If I say something....."

Which is more correct?

Thank you

[emsr2d2]

Dear all,

If I can asking for a particular usage, should I start by saying

"If I would say something,........" or "If I say something....."

Which is more correct?

Thank you

I can't think of any examples when we would say "If I would say something..."

However, "If I say something..." is fine.

- If I say something to you, will you listen?
- If I say something quietly, do you think you will be able to hear me?

This can also be said as:

- If I were to say something to you, would you listen?

[Rover_KE]

It depends on the context.

Please give a full sentence.

Rover

[AmyYvonne]

Could you say "If I were to say to you, ...?"

[Raymott]

Could you say "If I were to say to you, ...?"

Yes.
"If I were to say to you that I thought you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"
Of course, there are simpler ways of saying this.

[kfredson]

Could you say "If I were to say to you, ...?"

Yes, this is a fine way to say it. However, if you were to say, "If I would say to you that you are....." it would be acceptable to most people. It may not be formally correct, but one hears far more egregious grammatical errors every day, at least in the USA.

[Raymott]

Yes, this is a fine way to say it. However, if you were to say, "If I would say to you that you are....." it would be acceptable to most people. It may not be formally correct, but one hears far more egregious grammatical errors every day, at least in the USA.

To most Americans perhaps?
We hear some very poor English in Australia too. That doesn't make fairly poor English acceptable just because it's not as bad.
But I guess it depends on the standards that the students aspire to.

[bertietheblue]

'If [subject] would' in 2nd conditionals is sub-standard in BrEng too and, I would say, egregious enough to grate on the ear. I wonder if it is more common in colloquial AmEng and so tolerated more?