How can I express the past condition

[MOYEEA LEE]

Dear teachers,

I know I can say"She said that if it rained, they wouldn't go outside."

But can I say:

In the past, if i rained,they wouldn't go outside.

Does the second one work?
It will mix with the unreality structure?

Thanks so much!

 

[emsr2d2]

[STRIKE]It will[/STRIKE] Does it mix well with the unreality structure?

See above.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

That's fine, with the corrections I have added.

Thanks so much for your kind help!!!!

I really appreciate it.

I think some sentences are alike, here is my context:

A mother just saw his son playing games at midnight, then she shouted:"Even if you go to school tomorrow, you are still playing!!!!

Jack is talking about Anna, and he said:"Last Friday, even if she had a meeting the next day, she was still drinking outside. She was always lazy. So she got fired".

Thanks so much!

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

That doesn't work. It's just about possible with 'Even though you're going ...'.
No. Once again, it's possible with 'even though'.

Thanks so much for your help!!!

That is my mistake, I mixed "even if" with "even though"

So what about these two sentences?

Whatever he ask for the next day, I'm not worried about it.

Last friday, Whatever he asked for the next day, I was not worried about it.

Are these two grammatical, sir?

Really thanks!

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

Note my corrections.

The first is acceptable. though we don't often need to say such things.

The second is very unnatural. If we really want to talk about this situation, we'd say something like I wasn't worried last Friday what he would ask for on Saturday.


We can mix any number of tenses in the same sentence in some contexts, but I think you are try too hard to create mixes. Wait until you have a natural situation that you want to talk about and then check with us.



I appreciate your desire to be polite, but we don't use 'sir' or 'madam' in this forum. We are all members together.

Dear teacher,

Thanks so much!

But it should be grammatical like "if they XXX, they would XXX" right?

Here is the context:

Jane is always defiant! She said:"I don't care about the documents asked by Mr. Smith! Whatever he asked for on Saturday, I was not worried about it on Friday."


In this case, the mood is quite different,right?

Thanks so much!

 

[Rover_KE]

Thanks so much for your help. [STRIKE]!!![/STRIKE]

Thanks so much for your kind help. [STRIKE]!!!![/STRIKE]

A mother just saw his son playing games at midnight, then she shouted:"Even if you go to school tomorrow, you are still playing! [STRIKE]!!!

[/STRIKE]
Thanks so much. [STRIKE]![/STRIKE]

Thanks so much. [STRIKE]![/STRIKE]

Thanks so much. [STRIKE]![/STRIKE]

Thanks so much. [STRIKE]![/STRIKE]

Please desist from peppering your text with exclamation marks.

 

[Rover_KE]

I see that you are posting the same questions here and here.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

That's fine, with the corrections I have added.

Thanks so much for your kind help!

But I think I have misunderstood something.

"In the past, if it rained, they wouldn't go outside."(here means it already rained,or it was going to rain?)

"If it rains, we won't go outside"(here this one means "will rain")

Thanks a lot!

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks so much for your kind help!

But I think I have misunderstood something.

"In the past, if it rained, they wouldn't go outside."(here means it already rained,or it was going to rain?)

"If it rains, we won't go outside"(here this one means "will rain")

Thanks a lot!

In the first, we are talking about the past.

Does this make sense to you? "Five years ago, if it was raining, I wouldn't go outside. These days, I don't care about the weather so if it's raining, I go outside".

 

[Matthew Wai]

"In the past, if it rained, they wouldn't go outside."(here means it already rained,or it was going to rain?)

I think the sentence does not tell us whether it rained or not.
I take it to mean that they would not go outside when it rained.

"If it rains, we won't go outside"(here this one means "will rain")

The conditional clause refers to the future, and we don't know whether it will rain or not.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

I think the sentence does not tell us whether it rained or not.
I take it to mean that they would not go outside when it rained.


The conditional clause refers to the future, and we don't know whether it will rain or not.

The first one can express the past future or not?

Just like if I say:"They had prepared some food before they left" Here, "left" means "they already left"?

The first sentence, I mean, "if it rained" means "If it had already rained, they wouldn't go outside." or "If it was going to rain,they wouldn't go outside".

Thanks so much!

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

Well, that saves me the bother of responding to any more here.

I'm so sorry, because I can't find answers in any grammar book...

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

I'm so sorry, because sometimes the sentences are similar, but I don't know if they are correct..

So, let me end the question here.
I needed to wait until my girlfriend came.(Did his girlfriend come?)



In the past, If it rained, I wouldn't go outside.(The condition means "it already rained or it would rain?)



Last year, I always had waited 30 minutes before the bus came.(This means finally the bus came, but I had waited 30 minutes before it came,right?)

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm so sorry, because sometimes the sentences are similar, but I don't know if they are correct..

So, let me end with these questions. [strike]here.[/strike]

I needed to wait until my girlfriend came. Space after a full stop. (Did his girlfriend come?)
Impossible to say.


In the past, if it rained, I wouldn't go outside.(The condition means "it already rained or it would rain?)
In the past, if it was raining (in the past), I didn't go outside (in the past).


Last year, I always had to [STRIKE]waited[/STRIKE] wait 30 minutes before the bus came. Space after a full stop. (This means finally the bus came, but I had waited 30 minutes before it came, right?)
It means the bus always arrived 30 minutes after you arrived at the bus stop.

See above.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

See above.

So the second one can't express the past future, right?

And the third one can I say"I had waited"?

Besides, in the sentence "I need wait before the man came", is it possible to tell if the man came?

 

[emsr2d2]

So the second one can't express the past future, right?
I can't see any way for it to express the future.

And the third one can I say"I had waited"?
If you're talking about a habitual action, as you are, then the past perfect is inappropriate.

Besides, in the sentence "I need wait before the man came", is it possible to tell if the man came?
That sentence is completely incorrect.

See above.

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

See above.

I have cliked the botton, and I can't help writting down "thanks so much".

So these two following sentences use present tense to express the future,

I hope they are working hard tonight.



New students who graduate three years later will work in that factory.


But if I change the tense of main clauses to the past tense, it can be used in the same way?


I hoped they were working hard at that night.



After the college entrance examination, students who graduated three years later would work in that factory.

Can these two subordinate clauses express the past future?

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

That's not natural. Say 'in three years' time' rather than 'later'. With my correction that's fine.The tenses are OK, but the sentence itself is not. Students who graduated three years after the entrance examination would work in that factory.

But "I hoped they were working hard" means "I hoped they would be working hard" or “I hoped they were working hard at that time"?

"who graduated" means "who would graduate" or "who already graduated"?

 

[MOYEEA LEE]

Please try to construct questions in the more natural way I have shown above.

One modal/tense form does not 'mean' another. In your first sentence, the working hard could be at the time of speaking or at a later time that day.

In the second, the graduation is three years after the entrance examination. At the past time of the examination, that graduation was in the future.

That makes me confused...

Why does "If it rained, we wouldn't go outside" mean "At that time, it already rained, and I wouldn't go outside"?

Can this one express the past future?

Besides, does "who graduated" mean "they already graduated" ? Or we can't lnow if they graduated.

 

[emsr2d2]

Why does "If it rained, we wouldn't go outside" mean "At that time, it already rained, and I wouldn't go outside"?

It doesn't mean that. It refers to a past habitual action. In the past, every time it rained, I chose to stay indoors.