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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 7/14/2020 Posts: 324 Neurons: 1,978
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Hi,
Is the following sentence correct?
John harbors a desire to kill Peter if he had the opportunity to do so.
I'd appreciate your help.
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 7/8/2010 Posts: 23,400 Neurons: 94,935
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No this is not the tense required after that sort of conditional.
He would kill him if he had the chance.
This is a simple present- a timeless fact. And It is not a conditional fact - it sets up the condition. The desire is always there (hidden, "in the harbour"). The action only happens if the condition is met.
He harbours a desire to kill him.
He will kill him if he gets a chance. He would kill him if he ever got the chance.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 7/14/2020 Posts: 324 Neurons: 1,978
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How about "John harbors a desire to kill Peter should he have the opportunity to do so"?
The should-clause is taken to modify the infinitival phrase.
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 Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/12/2011 Posts: 34,865 Neurons: 234,727 Location: Livingston, Scotland, United Kingdom
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It looks OK to me (though I would probably put a comma after "Peter" - I don't know if there's any rule to explain it other than "that's where I pause when I say the sentence).
"Harbours a desire" is definite, it's true, not conditional - so the condition of "having the opportunity" must refer to the infinitive "to kill Peter".
Another (possibly slightly more formal) wording could be: "John harbors a desire to kill Peter, were he to have the opportunity to do so."
But I'd say "John'd like to kill Peter if he had the chance" - which is very like your ORIGINAL sentence. I think that the difference is that your original one - "John harbors a desire to kill Peter if he had the opportunity to do so" - uses very formal wording ("harbouring a desire", "having the opportunity" and "to do so") with a very informal construction using "had".
Your later one - "John harbors a desire to kill Peter should he have the opportunity to do so" - uses the formal phrases with the formal subjunctive "should he have".
My offering - "John'd like to kill Peter if he had the chance" - is all informal.
Both the fully formal and the fully informal ones sound OK - it's the mixture which doesn't seem to work.
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