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Thread: conditional sentence

  1. #1
    Nathan Mckane is offline Member
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    Default conditional sentence

    Hello

    I have taken the following sentene from the Adanced Grammer in Use book, but I don't get to which tense it is related? Is it talking about a past habit or sth?

    If I made the wrong decision then I appologise.

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    emsr2d2's Avatar
    emsr2d2 is offline Moderator
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    Default Re: conditional sentence

    Quote Originally Posted by Nathan Mckane View Post
    Hello

    I have taken the following sentence from the Advanced Grammer in Use book, but I don't get to which tense it is related? Is it talking about a past habit or something?

    If I made the wrong decision then I appologise.

    Thanks.
    The [wrong decision] was in the past. The apology is in the present.

    Imagine that your boss sent you to an important meeting on his behalf. At that meeting, you made a decision, one which at the time you believed to be the correct one. A few days later, your boss finds out what happened and tells you that he thinks that you made the wrong decision in the meeting. You would then tell him that if [he thinks] you made the wrong decision, then you are now sorry and would like to apologise.
    Nathan Mckane likes this.

  3. #3
    Nathan Mckane is offline Member
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    Default Re: conditional sentence

    Ok, somehow got it.Thank you by the way.

    What if I want to answer this boss this way?

    If I had made the wrong decision then I would appologise.
    If I made the wrong decision then I would appologise.

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    sarat_106 is offline Key Member
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    Exclamation Re: conditional sentence

    Quote Originally Posted by Nathan Mckane View Post
    Ok, somehow got it.Thank you by the way.

    What if I want to answer this boss this way?

    If I had made the wrong decision then I would have appologised.
    If I made the wrong decision then I would appologise.
    If the 'if clause' is past perfect, the main clause will be in present perfect.

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