[Grammar] If I were you, I would research animal agriculture before I eat/ate any more...

[donnach]

...food made from animals.

Which is it: EAT or ATE?

And why?


Thank you,

Donna

 

[Tarheel]

ate

The pattern is:

I would do this before I did that.

 

[GoesStation]

Ate. Perhaps one of our teachers can help with the "why" part; I can only say that the simple past is the only natural choice in your sentence.

 

[donnach]

I think your post would read better if you changed the italics:

I would do this before I did that.

 

[teechar]

That's a new one for me, but thank you all the same. ;-)

 

[donnach]

It wasn't meant to be rude.

It's okay. I'll try to work it out on my own. Thanks all the same.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Perhaps one of our teachers can help with the "why" part

No teacher has explained why, so this learner has to figure out why.
The 'before' clause is part of the second conditional sentence, so 'ate' should be used.
However, in the following second conditional, 'love' can be used.

'What would you think if I told you I still love you (now)?'

Why can the simple present be used in the above sentence but not in the OP's sentence?

 

[teechar]

The use of the past simple "ate" is more appropriate because it casts the action into a theoretical/distant/unlikely scenario.

 

[Tarheel]

I think your post would read better if you changed the italics:

I would do this before I did that.

Guess who is going on "Ignore"?

 

[Matthew Wai]

The use of the past simple "ate" is more appropriate because it casts the action into a theoretical/distant/unlikely scenario.

The following is in the same construction, but the action 'come' is a fact rather than a theoretical/distant/unlikely scenario.
If I were you, I would leave before he comes/came.

Which is correct, 'comes' or 'came'?

 

[GeneD]

Why can the simple present be used in the above sentence 'What would you think if I told you I still love you (now)?' but not in the OP's sentence?

What if we rephrase it?..
If I were you, I wouldn't ate any more food made from animals without doing some research first.
Let's rephrase "What would you think if I told you I still love you (now)?"
What would you think if I still loved you?
To me, the meaning, in this case, would be different.

 

[Tarheel]

What if we rephrased it?..
If I were you, I wouldn't EAT any more food made from animals without making some research first.
Let's rephrase "What would you think if I told you I still love you (now)?"
What would you think if I still loved you?
To me, the meaning, in this case, would be different.



[h=2][/h]

I think you "do" research instead of "make" research.

Yes, I do think your two example sentences mean different things. (I'm not sure what though.)

 

[teechar]

The following is in the same construction, but the action 'come' is a fact rather than a theoretical/distant/unlikely scenario.
If I were you, I would leave before he comes/came.

Which is correct, 'comes' or 'came'?

I would use "comes" in it.

 

[Matthew Wai]

1. If I were you, I would reconsider before I did it.
2. If I were you, I would leave before he comes.

'Did' is used because 'I did it' is an unlikely action.
'Comes' is used because 'he comes' is a fact.

Am I right or wrong?

 

[Tarheel]

It's an expected future occurrence.

before he comes
before he gets here
before he arrives