[Grammar] Many of us would have had the privilege of working with him during the decades....

Status
Not open for further replies.

kite

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
Hi teachers,
I have picked up a sentence from an English newspaper; "Many of us would have had the privilege of working with him during the decades.....". Here I have some problem with understanding the meaning. I think the sentence means that many of them had not got the privilege, am I right? And I think we can also rewrite the sentence as "Many of us could have had the privilege of working with him during the decades...." because that is what I have learned about conditionals.

Thanks.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Hi teachers,
I have picked up a sentence from an English newspaper; "Many of us would have had the privilege of working with him during the decades.....". Here I have some problem with understanding the meaning. I think the sentence means that many of them had not got the privilege, am I right? And I think we can also rewrite the sentence as "Many of us could have had the privilege of working with him during the decades...." because that is what I have learned about conditionals.

Thanks.
No, it isn't trying to say that many didn't have the privilege.
The meaning depends on whether that is the full sentence. Your dots, I think, tend to imply that it's not. "would have had" could mean something completely different if there's an 'if' clause following.
Assuming that the sentence is complete, it means that the speaker isn't absolutely sure that many had the privilege (he has no proof), but he considers it likely.
 

kite

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
Thank you. Here is the full sentence "Many of us would have had the privilege of working with him during the decades he has diligently served the nation in this sphere." There is no "if" clause. How about now? Was I correct?
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Thank you. Here is the full sentence "Many of us would have had the privilege of working with him during the decades he has diligently served the nation in this sphere." There is no "if" clause. How about now? Was I correct?
Yes, it's not a conditional. It means that the speaker isn't absolutely sure that many had the privilege (he has no proof), but he considers it likely - he believes unconditionally that they probably did have the privilege.
 

kite

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
If this sentence is not a conditional, what kind of sentence is this? I have met this "would have + past participle" only with conditionals(3rd).
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
To be a conditional, there needs to be an if clause (real or implied). If there's no condition, it's not conditional.
 

kite

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
I know it. Then please tell me in what type of situation we can use that phrase "would have had/known/done".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top