gramma問題

Hi there,

First, please understand that we don't have such structure in Chinese, so it is better not to think in terms of Chinese sentence structure.


The second sentence is wrong because

'would beat' refers to the future [would + bare infinitive] (a possible future action) but 'if he knew that Tom was going to school' talks about the past.


First sentence:

means 'if he knew that Tom was going to school', he would have beaten Tom [would have + past participle] (a possible past action that he did not do). But he didn't beat Tom, because he didn't know that Tom was going to school.

Hope the explanation is useful.

第一句係代表已經過左去，有後悔既感覺，類似中文既“如果佢一早知道Tom會返黎學校，一早就打左鑊金既佢啦“
第二句純屬過去式

2011-07-04 13:14:26 補充：
第二句雖純屬過去式，但文法是有誤的。
“有可能將來式” 不能與過去式並存

第1句可能是過去未來完成式
第2句是過去未來簡單式
would為will(將會)的過去式

2011-07-04 10:26:13 補充：
兩者劇中有[if]
所以would意思就為[就會、將要]
來表示條件、假設子句

第1句:如果他知道Tom正去上學，他就會完成打他(的這一件動作)
第2句:如果他知道Tom正去上學，他就會打他

2句雖然有些相似
但第1句可能有[完成的次數]
第2句並無表示(也有可能Tom每次去學校都要被打)