那么假设我的母语是英语（这个假设排除了现在忘光英文的可能性），如果我说：
If I didn't have a good command of English, they wouldn't have chosen me.
会比较
If I hadn't had a good command of English, they wouldn't have chosen me.
适合是吗？
但是如果说话的人的母语不是英文，以前的英文很好，现在的英文却因为太久没用而生疏了，这样的话：
If I hadn't had a good command of English, they wouldn't have chosen me.
会比较
If I didn't have a good command of English, they wouldn't have chosen me.
适合是吗？
因为说者认为自己I do have a good command of English，所以如果用mix conditional来假设的话就会变成If I didn't have a good command of English对吗？
• Fortunately I was chosen, because I spoke German.
• I think I was chosen because I spoke fluent Welsh and they were trying to reach those people who spoke only Welsh.
• I had been chosen because I spoke English well, with almost no trace of an accent...(Uncharted Skies)
• I was in the end dropped by BBC Radio Wales because I was English.
• They were worried because I was English.
• I grew more intimate with Blanche Stroeve, and I think, because I was English and she knew few English people, she was glad to see me.
• The children were all nice and made me feel special because I was English.
显然的，“I”现在还是英国人，例句中句子是针对过去的时间来说的，用过去的 was 并没暗示，也绝非说明，我现在已经不是英国人了。
最后再来看看直接/间接引语（direct/reported speech）的一些例子：
直接：Sam said, "Sydney is bigger than Melbourne."
间接：Sam said (that) Sydney is (或 was) bigger than Melbourne.
间接引语中用is或was都没错，用过去式的was也不暗示或说明现在悉尼已不再比墨尔本大。这是说着在转述时的“角度”问题，用 was 只是他针对Sam告诉他那件事的过去时间来说；但现在悉尼还是大过墨尔本，如果他是从这个角度来说，那他用 is 来说并没错。
当然语法不是死的，还是得依据实际的情况来使用。举个例子：
Tom 上个星期告诉我 Sam 有一辆本田汽车，
Tom said, "Sam has a Toyota."
而最近，Sam把那辆车卖了，你转述的时候只能说：
Tom said (that) Sam had a Toyota.
而不能说 ...Sam has a Toyota. 因为现在的事实是，Sam不再有本田汽车。
当然，如果一个人已不在人世，已不存在，关于他的一切都变成了过去式...... He was a ... man. She was...
不由想起多年前一个母亲谋杀亲生女儿并弃尸的案件......母亲向警方报案声称女儿失踪了，可是后来母亲在语法上的疏忽引起警方的怀疑，最后深入调查而发现母亲就是杀害女儿的凶手。原来母亲在提到女儿的一切时都用过去式，显示她知道女儿已经不在人间，引起警方的怀疑，认为这并非只是失踪那么简单......
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发表于 14-2-2012 05:16 PM
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