Thanks, Jack, I had also promised you that I would go look up your earlier discussion myself, but I never did.
It's comforting to know that the "if I would have..." construction bothers more people than just me. As you say, though, I don't think there's any hope in explaining to offenders why it's incorrect.
HOWEVER, there is hope. Have you (or anyone on the thread) ever noticed that national advertisements, whether print or broadcast media, are usually very, very correct gramatically? Sure, there are exceptions (it should be "Nobody can do it as McDonald's can," and who can forget Kenneth Cole's "Imelda Marcos owned 3,000 pairs of shoes. She could of at least bought a pair of ours"?), but it's pretty rare to see an outright error. It suggests that the advertising industry has some fairly skilled grammar police patrolling their ranks. |
