On 09/07/2010 09:30 PM, Xyne wrote:
Using "have":
"Had the other TUs not cared, they would have abstained."
"If the other TUs hadn't cared, ..."
Compare:
"Had I not been there, I would have been elsewhere."
"If I hadn't been there, ..."
Using "do":
"If they didn't care, they would have abstained".
Compare:
"If I didn't know better, I would call him an idiot."
For a bit of logical completeness:
Formulations such as "Did they not care, ..." might be correct in a strict
sense but they would sound very wrong to most speakers, as though it were a
question. "Cared they not, ..." might also be correct but it sounds archaic and
unnatural (even though I would prefer it if we could drop the silly use of the
auxiliary verb "do"... and re-introduce "thou" to match "du" and "tu" while
we're at it).
"Cared thou not, thou would have abstained." ;)
Thanks for this comprehensive reply.
According to wikipedia, "thou" is the 2nd person singular pronoun,
and the plural form would be "Cared ye not, ye would have abstained."
Regards, PyroPeter
--
freenode/pyropeter "12:50 - Ich drücke Return."
