[aur-general] voting period: Brad Fanella

[Xyne]

PyroPeter wrote:

> If the other TU's would have been like "I don't care", they would have
> used the "abstain" option.
> 
> Question in matters of language: How do I merge the subjunctive mood
> and the negation into a grammatically correct sentence?
> "If the other TU's would not have cared, ..."?
> 
> Regards, PyroPeter

Using "have":
"Had the other TUs not cared, they would have abstained."
"If the other TUs hadn't cared, ..."

Compare:
"Had I not been there, I would have been elsewhere."
"If I hadn't been there, ..."


Using "do":
"If they didn't care, they would have abstained".

Compare:
"If I didn't know better, I would call him an idiot."


For a bit of logical completeness:
Formulations such as "Did they not care, ..." might be correct in a strict
sense but they would sound very wrong to most speakers, as though it were a
question. "Cared they not, ..." might also be correct but it sounds archaic and
unnatural (even though I would prefer it if we could drop the silly use of the
auxiliary verb "do"... and re-introduce "thou" to match "du" and "tu" while
we're at it).

"Cared thou not, thou would have abstained." ;)