Wouldn’t it make sense to pay

[keannu]

Is this sentence a factual conditional - accepted truth or a counterfactual conditional? I think the latter, but there's a possiblity for the former. This is kind of ambiguous as "achieived" and "wouldn't" make both possibilities.

go1-41
ex) I work with a computer professional to help me purchase equipments, install software, and solve problems that periodically occur. He used to charge me by the hour.When he helped me, it often seemed like we were focusing on time rather than results. I was looking at my watch and he undoubtedly was looking at his. The faster he solved my computer problems, the less money he made. It just didn’t seem to make sense to me. We changed our arrangement so that he would get paid more if he finished more tasks, which is much more satisfying for both of us. Wouldn’t it make sense to pay a salesperson who only works part-time as much as one who works full-time if both achieved the same levels of sales?

 

[5jj]

Is this sentence a factual conditional - accepted truth or a counterfactual conditional? I think the latter, but there's a possiblity for the former. This is kind of ambiguous as "achieived" and "wouldn't" make both possibilities.Wouldn’t it make sense to pay a salesperson who only works part-time as much as one who works full-time if both achieved the same levels of sales?

You are getting bogged down, yet again, in labelling.Think of your sentence as:

Wouldn’t it make sense (if we were to do such a thing) to pay a salesperson who only works part-time as much as one who works full-time if both achieved the same levels of sales?

It would also make sense to change the 'works' to 'worked'. We then end up with a (moderately) neat hypothetical conditional.

 

[keannu]

Thanks a lot! I always read your material for conditionals and share it with others, who feel it much helpful.
I'd like to organize some terms related to conditionals. By what you said "hypothetical", did you mean a future occurence or a present one? I thought the sentence is about the general present, so that's why I labelled it as "counterfactual (present)", but you seem to be saying it refers to the future.

I think adverbs about time or context can indicate if a sentence is about the present or the future, so what do you think is the standard to tell the two?

 

[5jj]

I'd like to organize some terms related to conditionals. By what you said "hypothetical", did you mean a future occurence or a present one? I thought the sentence is about the general present, so that's why I labelled it as "counterfactual (present)", but you seem to be saying it refers to the future.

I didn't mention time! Common sense is the best way to work out the time - if the time is important.