[Grammar] I didn't know how that man would behave

[constantinusphilo]

This is again a quote from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad:

I didn't know how that man would behave if he were aware that I was staying under the same roof.
I think it should be 'would have... if he had been aware'.

 

[Tdol]

You will find different forms used over time. Conrad's view of conditionals was clearly not the same as yours, but then there will be many other differences in his language use. Shakespeare famously uses between you and I, which grammarians hate. The past was not the same as now. Do you have any evidence to suggest that Conrad was wrong in his time? You have found him do the same thing more than once, but that suggests that his usage was OK then.

 

[TheParser]

I didn't know how that man would behave if he were aware that I was staying under the same roof.
I think it should be 'would have... if he had been aware'.

NOT A TEACHER

Constantinusphilo, I am probably all wet (wrong), but I denote a difference between the two sentences.

I agree that traditional grammar would require "I didn't know how that man would have behaved if he had been aware that I was staying under the same roof" IF the writer were describing today something that had occurred in the past.

But I feel that the writer might have written "I didn't know how that man would behave if he were aware that I was staying under the same roof" because he wanted to -- in a sense -- take the reader back with him to the time that this incident actually occurred. It helps us get into the mind of the writer at that particular time (not today).

As I said, I may be all wet.

 

[constantinusphilo]

I have found something in Randolf Quirk's Comprehensive Grammar, 3. 26, Note:
As it is commonly supposed that the were-subjunctive always refers to circumstances contrary
to fact, it is worth noting the occasional occurrence of a hypercorrect 'pseudo-subjunctive' were
in contexts where the past time meaning of was seems to give the required interpretation:
The pilot appeared to deviate from his flight path to minimize the danger to people living
in the town; but if this were his intention, he failed to communicate it to the control tower.
A similar anomalous use of were occasionally occurs in indirect questions:
It was difficult to tell whether the language were Semitic or Indo-European.

Therefore, the sentence quoted above is not a past unreal condition. It is a past real condition.