Meredith Holley’s Reviews > Dispute Resolution: Examples & Explanations > Status Update
Meredith Holley
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Can you say "it would be against your interests to buy your second favorite car for $21,000, unless there is something important at stake" (would/is)? Or do you have to say "would/was"? I suddenly got really confused. It's would/was, right?
— Jul 20, 2010 03:59PM
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Meredith Holley
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I love "fisticuffs," but I don't think it's okay to use the word twice in one chapter. hmmm.
— Jul 14, 2010 04:56PM
Meredith Holley
is on page 215 of 340
I'm re-writing this book as a romance novel: "The judge's throbbing . . . gavel sent the parties begging for "mediation."
— Jun 17, 2010 07:38PM
Meredith Holley
is on page 200 of 340
Why is dwarfs the plural of dwarf? Why not dwarves? I know there's probably no answer, but I have to ask.
— Jun 15, 2010 11:23AM
Meredith Holley
is on page 18 of 340
Unfortunately, this might be a boring book. I didn't expect that because one of my favorite professors co-wrote it. Some people are so much better at speaking than writing, but I didn't expect that here.
— Jun 10, 2010 09:57AM
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Jul 20, 2010 05:59PM
I think it's "was" because "there was."
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Oops. Right after I posted that, I realized it didn't make sense, but I couldn't get back on because I was using my friend's computer. Argh! Meant "was something." Wouldn't "something" have to be plural for "were" to work? I may need to save this for tomorrow, since I'm so mixed up.
I believe "Unless there were something" is correct. The subjunctive mood, they call it. As in "I wish I were rich". But just how stodgy do you want to sound?
Craype. What would I do without you two and your pristine knowledge of grammar? I'll see if we can put a little thank you footnote to you guys on that page.
But you weighed in first, so I think you'll both have to share this award. I realized the other thing that bugged me about the sentence. Should be "unless something important were at stake." That makes more sense, right?
And Buck gets the hit-and-run points. And Ceridwen gets shotgun. But you probably get the olympic gold medal, which is the prize for getting the right answer first.
this is all working out splendidly.
I think it all depends on which kind of car we're talking about. $21,000 is a good minivan, or a low-end sports car. And why does the price matter to the question of whether or not it's against your best interest? Is your first choice more or less expensive? And more importantly, it's against your best interests if your wife sent you to the car store to buy a minivan and you return with a sports car. Though I guess that would be the 'something important' that were at stake.
I think getting a divorce is exactly the kind of important thing they're talking about. Good point, Sock Puppet. The whole sentence was "If you knew you could buy your favorite car elsewhere for $20,000, it would be against your interests to buy your second-favorite car for $21,000, unless there is something important at stake beyond the quality of the car and its price tag."
Now it is: "If you knew you could buy your favorite car elsewhere for $20,000, it would be against your interests to buy your second favorite car for $21,000, unless something important were at stake beyond the quality of the car and its price tag." Took out the hyphen for "second favorite" and changed what we talked about. I think the hyphen change is right for that phrase.
