EngLearner
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- Joined
- May 13, 2023
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
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- Ukrainian
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- Ukraine
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- Ukraine
Source: "A Date With The Unknown", a movie (timestamp: 1h13m08s).
Tommy was the prosecutor in Rusty's trial. During the trial Rusty's computer was presented as evidence by his defence. The judge was going to acquit Rusty until it became known that someone had messed with the computer to make it seem like Rusty wasn't guilty. Rusty said that he did it himself. The prosecutor couldn't prove that Rusty was guilty of the crime he had supposedly committed, but since Rusty had admitted to tampering with the evidence, the judge sentenced him to two years in prison. Some time later, the prosecutor realized that Rusty did what he did because he knew who messed up with the computer and didn't want that person to be prosecuted, so he came to the prison cell where Rusty was serving his sentence and said to him:
I'll tell you what's bothering me. I have a son, and if someone came to me and said I could spend two years in the hole to save my kid's life, I would do that. I'd do that in a heartbeat. So if I was you, and I was convinced that somebody I loved had monkeyed with that computer I'd have fallen on my own sword, pled guilty just to end the whole thing.
Tommy used the simple past "was convinced." What we have here is a counterfactual scenario in the past for which we use the third conditional with the past perfect in the if-clause, so I wonder if he actually meant this: "If I were you, and had been convinced at the time of the trial that somebody I loved had monkeyed with that computer, I would've pled guilty like you did."
Tommy was the prosecutor in Rusty's trial. During the trial Rusty's computer was presented as evidence by his defence. The judge was going to acquit Rusty until it became known that someone had messed with the computer to make it seem like Rusty wasn't guilty. Rusty said that he did it himself. The prosecutor couldn't prove that Rusty was guilty of the crime he had supposedly committed, but since Rusty had admitted to tampering with the evidence, the judge sentenced him to two years in prison. Some time later, the prosecutor realized that Rusty did what he did because he knew who messed up with the computer and didn't want that person to be prosecuted, so he came to the prison cell where Rusty was serving his sentence and said to him:
I'll tell you what's bothering me. I have a son, and if someone came to me and said I could spend two years in the hole to save my kid's life, I would do that. I'd do that in a heartbeat. So if I was you, and I was convinced that somebody I loved had monkeyed with that computer I'd have fallen on my own sword, pled guilty just to end the whole thing.
Tommy used the simple past "was convinced." What we have here is a counterfactual scenario in the past for which we use the third conditional with the past perfect in the if-clause, so I wonder if he actually meant this: "If I were you, and had been convinced at the time of the trial that somebody I loved had monkeyed with that computer, I would've pled guilty like you did."
