Use-used/help

Use-used/help
Message from angrepa posted on 14-08-2013 at 16:15:17 (D | E | F)
Hello!

Exercise 100672, sentence 5:
Would you like it if I used your cell phone?
My doubt is this: Why can´t it be "USE"?
Thanks for any help.

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Edited by lucile83 on 14-08-2013 17:53

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Re: Use-used/help from passenger75, posted on 14-08-2013 at 16:51:30 (D | E)
Hi,

it comes back to the structure of conditional sentences.
Conditional sentences formula: If + simple past(sometimes past progressive,but not so common),would/could/might+bare infinitive.
This type of sentences are generally used to imply something that is currently impossible;but another usage of this type,as in here,is polite request.
By the way I am not an expert but I am somehow sure.
Hope it helps.

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Edited by passenger75 on 14-08-2013 17:02

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Edited by lucile83 on 14-08-2013 17:54

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Re: Use-used/help from ruediger60, posted on 14-08-2013 at 17:19:08 (D | E)
Hi,
Without claiming to be an expert myself, I agree with passenger75:
Your sentence is an example for the use of the conditional in a polite request.
That said, the sentence of your exercise sounds a little strange. Wouldn't one rather ask: Would you MIND (not like) if I used your cell phone? Or: I would like to use your phone. May I ? / Do you mind?

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Re: Use-used/help from lucile83, posted on 14-08-2013 at 18:01:10 (D | E)
Hello,

The original sentence is:
Would you like it if I used your cell phone? - You should use your own!
It is not a request; it is an ordinary question because of the word 'it'.
Another example:
- would you like it if I ate your ice-cream? ...oh no! sure I wouldn't!

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Re: Use-used/help from willy, posted on 14-08-2013 at 20:40:59 (D | E)
Hello!

Your question is about what is called "the sequence of tenses".
Here are two examples:
- Will it be all right if I use your phone? (NB: direct request)
- Would it be all right if I used your phone? (NB: less direct, more polite)

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Re: Use-used/help from ruediger60, posted on 15-08-2013 at 05:29:51 (D | E)
Lucile, upon first reading your comment I thought I had once again poorly read a fellow student's post. But then I realized that you had inserted the "it". This insertion produced a grammatically correct sentence but can one really know that your assumption about the intended meaning is closer to the original post than my proposal? Mine changed one word whereas yours added one. My assumption was "polite request", your interpretation was "ordinary question because of the word 'it'". Given that the sentence, with or without the 'it', seems odd (as your own ice cream example clarifies so beautifully), I think it is not so clear who is closer to the original intention.
I don't mean to argue. This is a wonderful site in large part thanks to the extraordinary work of the moderators:

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Edited by ruediger60 on 15-08-2013 05:32

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Edited by lucile83 on 15-08-2013 08:14

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Re: Use-used/help from notrepere, posted on 15-08-2013 at 07:06:53 (D | E)
Hello ruediger60

Since the test number was cited in the original post, you could have verified the information by typing that number in the yellow search box to find the test. That would have cleared up your question. It's a good idea to verify that the information is correct, especially when the question seems odd or incorrect.
Cheers,

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Re: Use-used/help from lucile83, posted on 15-08-2013 at 08:35:42 (D | E)
Hello ruediger60,

Here is the test after typing its number in the yellow search box which is on top of each page of the site, as notrepere wrote:
Link

If you read it you can see that it is not my interpretation and that the original sentence is correct (with the word 'it').
You should know that most of the time I proofread what is written on the forum and make sure it is correct or true. I don't mean I never make any error, I just mean that intellectual curiosity is the basis of knowledge.
I wish you a nice weekend.

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