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Would the above sentence sound natural? If not, what would be the modification?

Laurel
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18yoPolyglot
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5 Answers5

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Better, "I wouldnt do this if it weren't compulsory" (no comma is required) "...if it wasn't compulsory" is also frequntly used somewhat incorrectly.

Martin
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  • But, I read one sentence in an English grammar book... If that WAS Mary, why didn't she stop and say hello ? – 18yoPolyglot Nov 05 '14 at 10:44
  • "If it wasn't" is used frequently when the degree of certainty is greater. – Martin Nov 05 '14 at 10:52
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    We've been here before. Quirk et al, and Pullum, mention the use of the declarative after 'if' and do not label it at all incorrect in sentences such as this. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 05 '14 at 17:50
  • Martin. that sentence was from an English grammar book which was published in the UK. – 18yoPolyglot Nov 05 '14 at 18:11
  • Grammar books published in England tend to reflect English as it is spoken, rather than as it should be spoken;^) – Martin Nov 05 '14 at 19:06
  • I didn't realise there were any hyper-prescriptivists left. I'm tempted to say that grammars venerated by traditionalists tend to reflect English as it was spoken, often by self-elected style gurus, rather than English as it is spoken. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 05 '14 at 19:55
  • @Martin and Edwin: before going off on your respective favourite tirades, why not examine the sentence more carefully? "If that was Mary, why didn't she stop?" would not bring a blush to the cheek of the most finicky prescriptivist (and I should know). "If it were Mary" would be wrong there. – Tim Lymington Nov 05 '14 at 21:16
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This has been tackled before, in the Behave as if it was or it were thread, but I've noticed an inconsistency in my own usages.

[A] "I wouldn't do this if it weren't compulsory" uses the irrealis construction.

[B] "I wouldn't do this if it wasn't compulsory" uses the indicative.

I'm happy with either alternative, and both ACGEL and CGEL say both are widely used, with [A] being the more formal.

However, I'd stick with

[C] "If I were were the manager" most of the time,

and

[E] "If I were you"

all the time.

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Edwin Ashworth
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You could write it as following, using would/had been :
"I wouldn't do it, if it hadn't been compulsory."

v kumar
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You could write it as following, using would/had been : "I wouldn't do it, if it hadn't been compulsory."

This answer is grammatically incorrect, as it mixes the present and past unreal conditionals.

The past unreal uses past perfect tense in the dependent clause, and would + have + past participle in the independent clause. Ex: I wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been compulsory.

The present unreal uses the past tense in the dependent clause and would + present tense in the independent clause. Ex: I wouldn't do it if it weren't compulsory.

However as we English speakers tend to butcher the conditionals (here in Rhode Island, it's "I wouldn't of done it if it wouldn't of been compulsory"),pragmatically, this mixed conditional sentence is ok, as almost anyone would understand the message the speaker wanted to convey.

Barbara

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Barbara in RI
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"I wouldn't do this if it wasn't compulsory" sounds good to me as a native speaker, albeit slightly formal. A less formal wording would be, "I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to".

AlexMA
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