[Grammar] if Tom had not eaten....he would have been

[Oceanlike]

If Tom had not eaten so much junk food, he would have been in better health now.

In the above sentence, why ‘has not eaten’ and ‘have not eaten’ are incorrect.

kindly help me to understand. Thank you! :-D

 

[engee30]

NOT A TEACHER

'has not eaten' is incorrect because it is not used for talking about hypothetical past. 'have not eaten' would've been incorrect because the verb 'have' doesn't agree with the singular subject 'Tom'.

Besides, it looks to me like it's either:
If Tom had not eaten so much junk food, he would have been in better health by now.
or
If Tom had not eaten so much junk food, he would be in better health now.

 

[engee30]

2 (off-topic). As you, engee, have been a teacher of English, I think you can change your status to 'retired teacher'. You'll have to check (by PM) with Tdol on this, but I suspect that it will not then be necessary for you to add the 'not a teacher' disclaimer to your posts.

To be frank, I'm not retired yet :-D, I just stopped teaching for doing some other things of my interest. The case with me and this forum is that I come and go, for shorter or longer periods of time. Maybe one day, I'll get myself back to teaching.

Incidentally, I am a Piscean as well.

 

[Oceanlike]

I agree. I'm submitting this post simply to make two points:

1. I, personally, don't like the 've' contraction after modals in (semi-) formal writing;

hmmm this probably sound silly, but I don't understand what you had meant by point (1). I would appreciate your explaining it to me. Thank you! :-D

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think point#1 refers to the following, but I am not a teacher.

'have not eaten' would've been incorrect

 

[tedmc]

I just stopped teaching for doing some other things of my interest.

Is this sentence correct?

 

[Matthew Wai]

In the above sentence, why ‘has not eaten’ and ‘have not eaten’ are incorrect.

I think the present perfect is correct in the first conditional clause below, but I am not a teacher.
'If Tom has not eaten breakfast, I will not let him go out.'

 

[engee30]

Sorry, tedmc, but I've got into the habit of speaking and writing in an elliptical style.

Would this suffice as an explanation to you?
I just stopped teaching for (the sake of) doing some other things of my interest.

 

[tedmc]

OP's sentence is the third conditional where you talk about something in the past which did not happen. The 'condition' is in the past perfect tense.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think the OP might want to know that the following is a mixed conditional, but I am not a teacher.

If Tom had not eaten so much junk food, he would be in better health now.

 

[engee30]

That is certainly a mixed conditional.