[Grammar] Had I chosen...

salvador.dal1950 · Jan 1, 2014

Hello esteemed teachers. Could you explain to me the snippet in bold below? I understand what the author is trying to say, but what is that way of speaking? Is it formal? Is it Old fashioned or something? In "normal" English I think it would be: if/should I had chosen.

Had I chosen other forms of literary endeavor like drama, which I did have a go and failed, it would have been very different.

Thank you! :up:

emsr2d2 · Jan 1, 2014

salvador.dal1950 said:
Hello esteemed teachers. Could you explain to me the snippet in bold below? I understand what the author is trying to say, but what is that way of speaking? Is it formal? Is it Old fashioned or something? In "normal" English I think it would be: if/should I had chosen.

Had I chosen other forms of literary endeavor like drama, which I did have a go and failed, it would have been very different.

Thank you! :up:

In "normal" English, it would be "If I had chosen ...". It is entirely acceptable to remove "if" and reverse the word order to give "Had I ...". It's perhaps a little old-fashioned but it's used quite frequently.

Had I had more money, I'd have bought a better car.
Had the judge been in a better mood, he'd probably have given the burglar a lighter sentence.

Raymott · Jan 1, 2014

I think it should be:
"Had I chosen other forms of literary endeavor like drama, which I did have a go at and failed, it would have been very different." or
"Had I chosen other forms of literary endeavor like drama, at which I did have a go and failed, it would have been very different."

[Grammar] Had I chosen...

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