keannu
VIP Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Korean
- Home Country
- South Korea
- Current Location
- South Korea
In conditional clauses as in the following,
1. If I were the president of Korea, I would unify the two Koreas.
2. If I had been born as Obama, I would be the president of USA.
I always taught my students that the reason why they use the previous tense for falsity is what happened in the previous tense is no more true in the next tense. I guess that's why it came into being, but I'd like to confirm if it is the real origin.
You may not understand what I'm saying, but suppose if you are an elementary schooler, and you insist the fact "I was a baby" is still true even now, then it's quite wrong. So the nuance of past tense(more exactly, one previous tense considering past perfect for past) making falsity was applied to conditionals. If someone knows about the origin of using previous tense for conditionals, please let me know.
1. If I were the president of Korea, I would unify the two Koreas.
2. If I had been born as Obama, I would be the president of USA.
I always taught my students that the reason why they use the previous tense for falsity is what happened in the previous tense is no more true in the next tense. I guess that's why it came into being, but I'd like to confirm if it is the real origin.
You may not understand what I'm saying, but suppose if you are an elementary schooler, and you insist the fact "I was a baby" is still true even now, then it's quite wrong. So the nuance of past tense(more exactly, one previous tense considering past perfect for past) making falsity was applied to conditionals. If someone knows about the origin of using previous tense for conditionals, please let me know.