Quote:
Originally Posted by JemimahPashmina
I've looked in the internet for the answer, but haven't really found anything. In talking about a difficult situation in the past, would we say 'most people would've given up' or 'most people would give up' OR 'most people would've gave up'. Which is correct? And if you know, please explain why.
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The only one that is incorrect is the last: you don't say "would've gave up." Or, at least you are not supposed to. That's the contracted form of, "would have gave up." Nope.
Do you really want to know why? Generally, we just have to develop a "feel" for the way it is supposed to be used. Unfortunately, there are so many folks speaking strangely these days. But... if you really want to know the technical reason, here we go...
When you say, "I gave up," you are using the intransitive version of the verb "to give" in its simple past form: gave.
When you use the conditional/helping verb, "would have ... ," you are basically concatenating the conditional indicator "would" with the present perfect form, "have given." Notice the word "given" there? Not "gave"? The present perfect of any verb requires the use of a helping (auxiliary) verb "have" (in the present form here) and the past participle of the verb in question (given). You cannot use the simple past (gave) with the helping verb; it required the participle.
Good: "I have given up" or (contracted form) "I've given up." (present perfect) ... Bad: I have gave up.
Good: "I had given up." or (contracted form) "I'd given up." (past perfect) ... Bad: I had gave up.
Good: "I will have given up." (future perfect) ... Bad: I will have gave up.
When you put the "would" in front of the present perfect (conditional requires present perfect in this case), you are making the present perfect tense into the conditional tense:
"I would have given up." But notice it is exactly like the present perfect tense with the "would" tacked on front. Nothing else changes.
Your other version, "would give up," is also fine. It is turning the simple present into conditional. There are two conditional tenses:
I would give up. (present conditional)
I would have given up. (perfect conditional)
Note that in both cases, we are taking the present tense(s) and affixing the conditional marker, "would."
So... there you have it.