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Supple Cow · 05-07-2004, 09:36 AM

"Play would have had to have" seems like it would be a complete sentence as long as the preceding sentence specified what the subject of the sentence was. But I'm not 100% certain about that one.

As for the other stuff, I think KnifeMissle was on the right track, but his explanation is still a little sketchy. I don't know the proper terms for this in English, but in French, there is a past tense (passe compose or imparfait) and another past tense that happens before the regular one (plus-que-parfait).

For instance:

If I want to say that something simply happened in the past, I would say (and I'll use your example)...

Play would have had to smoke pot.

BUT, if I wanted to say the same thing AND IT HAD TO HAPPEN BEFORE SOME OTHER SPECIFIED POINT IN THE PAST, it would be...

Play would have had to have smoked pot [...to do whatever it is that he did in the past].

Does that make more sense now?

05-07-2004, 09:36 AM	#9 (permalink)
Supple Cow Americow, the Beautiful Location: Washington, D.C.	"Play would have had to have" seems like it would be a complete sentence as long as the preceding sentence specified what the subject of the sentence was. But I'm not 100% certain about that one. As for the other stuff, I think KnifeMissle was on the right track, but his explanation is still a little sketchy. I don't know the proper terms for this in English, but in French, there is a past tense (passe compose or imparfait) and another past tense that happens before the regular one (plus-que-parfait). For instance: If I want to say that something simply happened in the past, I would say (and I'll use your example)... Play would have had to smoke pot. BUT, if I wanted to say the same thing AND IT HAD TO HAPPEN BEFORE SOME OTHER SPECIFIED POINT IN THE PAST, it would be... Play would have had to have smoked pot [...to do whatever it is that he did in the past]. Does that make more sense now? __________________ "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." (Michael Jordan)