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Old 07-Nov-2005, 16:01
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Exclamation If he is such a good doctor,he should have diagnosed my illness

Hello everyone,
Would you please tell me if this conditional sentence is right or not?
( If he is such a good doctor,he should have diagnosed my illness.)

One of my teachers said we can never say such a sentence because it doesn`t make sense in english.He said the right one would be:
( If he were such a good doctor,he should have diagnosed my illness.)
Is that right?

Thanks in advance,
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Old 09-Nov-2005, 02:17
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Default Re: If he is such a good doctor,he should have diagnosed my illness

It is a correct sentence, though unusual in mixing the first and third conditionals. This is normally only done with 'should', though I have seen it done with 'would'. If I say, 'if he were', then I don't believe he is a good doctor, while if I say 'if he is', then I am still unsure about it- I tend towards thinking he's not a good doctor, but am prepared to be wrong.
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