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2016 OG SC 61 conditional construction

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2016 OG SC 61 conditional construction

by Crystal W » Thu May 19, 2016 6:28 pm
To develop more accurate population forecasts, demographers have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economic determinants of fertility.
A have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economic
B have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economical
C would have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economical
D would have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economic
E would have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economical

My question is about the conditional construction. Can someone introduce this tense systematically? In this question, OG said this sentence is a hypothetical situation so it should use conditional construction, but I cannnot understant. I can understand the Manhattan said we should use would do when we want to express the future but the situation in whole sentence is past.

Thanks in advance!
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by ceilidh.erickson » Sat May 21, 2016 12:50 pm
The construction "to develop more accurate population forecasts" can be understood as "IN ORDER TO develop..." This implies that such forecasts have not yet been developed, but that we want to develop them in the future. Thus, the hypothetical action of what demographers WOULD need to know should also be in the future, and we're comparing to what they NOW KNOW in the present.

Does that help?
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by OptimusPrep » Sat May 21, 2016 7:23 pm
Crystal W wrote:To develop more accurate population forecasts, demographers have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economic determinants of fertility.
A have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economic
B have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economical
C would have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economical
D would have to know a great deal more than they do now about the social and economic
E would have to know a great deal more than now about the social and economical

My question is about the conditional construction. Can someone introduce this tense systematically? In this question, OG said this sentence is a hypothetical situation so it should use conditional construction, but I cannnot understant. I can understand the Manhattan said we should use would do when we want to express the future but the situation in whole sentence is past.

Thanks in advance!
Conditional tense is used for the things that re hypothetical or for the things that are expected to happen.
In this case, the demographers might be able to develop a more accurate forecast in the future if they know more now.

Hence this is a conditional statement and requires a use of would.
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