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Were I him?
- Thread starter belly_ttt
- Start date
- Status
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2006
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- UK
- Current Location
- UK
You're right - it's pretty awkward. It's just about acceptable though - if rather mannered - in some formal contexts - possibly in public speaking. This sort of conditional is sometimes fossilized in idioms: "Had I but known" is a pretty common alternative to 'If I'd only known".
Here are some Google results:
Results 1 - 10 of about 9,250 English pages for "Had I but known".
Results 1 - 10 of about 28,800 English pages for "If I'd only known".
So, about a third of the worldwide hits. But in UK pages, the ratio flips from 1:3 to 3:1:
Results 1 - 10 of about 378 English pages for "If I'd only known" :.uk.
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,040 English pages for "Had I but known" :.uk.
b
Here are some Google results:
Results 1 - 10 of about 9,250 English pages for "Had I but known".
Results 1 - 10 of about 28,800 English pages for "If I'd only known".
So, about a third of the worldwide hits. But in UK pages, the ratio flips from 1:3 to 3:1:
Results 1 - 10 of about 378 English pages for "If I'd only known" :.uk.
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,040 English pages for "Had I but known" :.uk.
b
- Status
