It's not standard English. In standard English it would read:
Had the chief been here, the situation would have been much better.
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Thread: subjunctive
- 31-Mar-2011, 11:51 #1
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subjunctive Does the following sentence make any sense??
"Been here the chief had, the situation would have been much better"
I have read the above sentence in an online test, marked as correct. But I am totally unable to comprehend this structure
Please help.
- 31-Mar-2011, 11:53 #2
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Re: subjunctive
- 31-Mar-2011, 11:53 #3
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Re: subjunctive *Not a teacher
It doesn't sound good to me. Shouldn't it be like this?
Had the chief been here, the situation would have been much better.
Edit: It looks like birdeen's call and I posted almost at the same time.
- 31-Mar-2011, 11:53 #4
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Re: subjunctive 
Originally Posted by tipu s 
NOT A TEACHER.
It should read "had the chief been here," which is the same as "if the chief had been here."
- 31-Mar-2011, 12:48 #5
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Re: subjunctive Can you post a link to the on-line test? It's completely wrong. Originally Posted by tipu s
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