Would have laughed at stories about

English as a Second Language
1

What is the function of “would have” here? does it refer to a hypothetical situation? or does it mean: the people who laughed at Aslan, laughed at stories about Talking Beasts and Dwarfs as well.

“But who believes in Aslan nowadays?”
“I do,” said Caspian. “And if I hadn’t believed in him before, I would now. Back there among the Humans the people who laughed at Aslan would have laughed at stories about Talking Beasts and Dwarfs. Sometimes I did wonder if there really was such a person as Aslan: but then sometimes I wondered if there were really people like you. Yet there you are.”

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2

He is tying the two things together. He is saying that the type of people who laughed at Aslan are also likely to laugh as Talking Beast and Dwarfs. So if they do one, they are likely to do the other.

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3

The function of would have is to suggest an unrealized situation.

The people who laughed at Aslan would have laughed at stories about Talking Beasts and Dwarfs if they had read or listened to them (the stories).

It refers to or resembles the Type III conditional sentence.

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Thank you all :pray: :relaxed:

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