How can i understand bold red are would or had
If I’d known you were coming, I’d have got your room ready.
An interesting question!
This “if” structure follows a common pattern:
If … had done … , … would have done …
So,
If I had known you were coming, I would have got your room ready
Hi Muhammad,
I would say that you can easily tell whether the 'd in a contraction stands for ‘‘would’’ or it stands for ‘‘had’’, by looking at the form of the verb that follows it.
– the 'd stands for would when it is followed by an infinitive (without to)
– the 'd stands for had when it is followed by a past participle
Let’s say the verb in your sentence is ‘‘know’’. The 3 forms of the verb are:
know - infinitive, known - past participle, knew - past tense (simple)
I’d know = I would know (present conditional)
I’d known = I had known (past perfect tense)
Or, maybe the verb is ‘‘have’’. The 3 forms of this verb are:
have - infinitive, had - past participle, had - past tense
You’d have = you would have (present conditional)
He’d had = he had had (past perfect tense)
How about these:
It’d cost you $20.
He’d put on a fresh pair of jeans.
Your techinque isn’t doing you much good, is it? =)
Where the past participle and base verb are identical, this will not work by itself. It’s still a good method otherwise, though. Context will solve those sentences anyway.
Hi Tort,
I can say that Mordant just beat me to it.
Plus, the method I gave is the general method, it cannot work every single time. There are always exceptions to any rule.