Search from various English teachers...
Anghel Valente
Please help me with this sentence!
"He would have had answered the phone if he really cared" Did I got the right verbal composition in this sentence? I'm a bit confused! Thanks in advance! :)
Jun 12, 2016 12:50 AM
Answers · 9
1
Really close and some good answers to your question! This one is probably debatable, but this is actually a conditional sentence -- the conditional clause "he had cared" should be preceded by the conditional "if". You could say, "He would have answered the phone if he had really cared." Or, if you were speaking this phrase, you probably want to emphasize the conditional clause (the 'if he had really cared' part), thus you could say "If he had really cared, he would have answered the phone." (this second version is the most likely way it would be spoken by a native speaker). Hope this helps.
June 12, 2016
1
The pattern you need is "would + have + [past participle]". In your example you added two past participles, and we can't tell whether you wanted "had" to be a main verb (possess, own, eat/drink?, experience) or an auxiliary verb. In the pattern "would have had", it's a main verb.
""He would have answered the phone..." is the correct phrase.
June 12, 2016
1
Good try, but the correct sentence would be:
He would have answered the phone, had he really cared.
OR
He would have answered the phone if he really cared.
June 12, 2016
I would say "He would have answered the phone if he really cared" "would have had" doesn't work quite right in this case
Keep it up!
June 12, 2016
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!
Anghel Valente
Language Skills
English, Esperanto, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Learning Language
French, Spanish
Articles You May Also Like

How to Ask for a Raise or Promotion in English
9 likes · 8 Comments

The Key to Learning a Language Faster
31 likes · 8 Comments

Why "General English" is Failing Your Career (An Engineer’s Perspective)
30 likes · 12 Comments
More articles
