ronmecer
Member
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2008
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
Hi everyone, the following sentence is from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary :
It would have been political suicide for him to challenge the allegations in court.
(suicide - Definition and pronunciation | Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com)
How would you interpret this sentence? I think the usage of "would have been" has two meaning. Is the speaker describing an event in the past that didn't happen (which means he didn't challenge the allegations in court) or just making an assumption about the past?
It would have been political suicide for him to challenge the allegations in court.
(suicide - Definition and pronunciation | Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com)
How would you interpret this sentence? I think the usage of "would have been" has two meaning. Is the speaker describing an event in the past that didn't happen (which means he didn't challenge the allegations in court) or just making an assumption about the past?