[General] We could have

[Anil Giria]

We could have had the time of our lives, if not for the dreadful weather.

What does this mean?

 

[tedmc]

We were prevented from having a good time as the weather was bad.

 

[Anil Giria]

We were prevented from having a good time as the weather was bad.

Is there any alternate way to write this. I could not understand why did we use " if not"

 

[tedmc]

Is there any [STRIKE]alternate[/STRIKE] alternative way to write this. I could not understand why[STRIKE] did [/STRIKE]we use " if not"

We could have had the time of our lives if it did not rain/if the weather was better.

 

[Rover_KE]

Those are incorrect, Ted.

'We could have had the time of our lives if it hadn't rained/if the weather had been better.'

 

[Anil Giria]

We could have had the time of our lives if it did not rain/if the weather was better.

Is there any alternate alternative way to write this. I could not understand why did we use " if not"

Why "alternate" is not correct? Is using "did" redundant or wrong?

 

[Roman55]

'Alternative' means 'another choice/possibility'. 'Alternate' means 'every other one/one in two'. In AmE, 'alternate' can be used to mean 'alternative' so whether it is right or wrong in your sentence depends on one's point of view.

Using 'did' is wrong. It should be either, I could not understand why we used "if not", or, Why did we use "if not"?

 

[Matthew Wai]

'We could have had the time of our lives but for the rain/the dreadful weather.'

We could have had the time of our lives if it did not rain/if the weather was better.

The past subjunctive in an if-clause does not refer to the past.

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

If the weather had been better we could have had a good time.

 

[Anil Giria]

Using 'did' is wrong. It should be either, I could not understand why we used "if not", or, Why did we use "if not"?

Does it mean that we can't use "did" with "could"? Please clarify.

 

[Roman55]

No, it doesn't mean that.

The problem is that you wrote, I could not understand why did we use " if not". 'Why did we…' is a question. If you had written, I could not understand why we did use " if not", that would have been OK.

 

[Anil Giria]

No, it doesn't mean that.

The problem is that you wrote, I could not understand why did we use " if not". 'Why did we…' is a question. If you had written, I could not understand why we did use " if not", that would have been OK.

Understood. But just to understand bit better " does it mean that we can't ask in question format with "could"?

 

[Tarheel]

Could you say that a little louder?

 

[Anil Giria]

Could you say that a little louder?

You got me wrong. I want to ask that why can't we use "why did we" in this sentence below?

I could not understand why did we use " if not".

 

[tedmc]

You got me wrong. I want to ask that why can't we use "why did we" in this sentence below?

I could not understand why did we use " if not".

Because it is not a question.

Read this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv207.shtml

 

[Matthew Wai]

The why-clause functions as a noun, so it is not a question.

I could not understand something.
I could not understand why we used 'if not'.

 

[Tarheel]

My post was not a question. You seemed to be wondering if you could use "could" in a question. I gave you an example of using "could" in a question.
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Where did I go wrong?
;-)