I could have lifted/lift 200 kilos

[EngLearner]

John and his friend used to go to the gym together. A year ago, John stopped working out there and has since become much weaker than he was back then. When his friend tells him about an upcoming competition where he plans to lift 200 kilos, John expresses interest in participating but acknowledges his current limitations. He says to his friend:

1. If I hadn't stopped working out at the gym a year ago, I [could have lifted]/[could lift] 200 kilos at the competition next week.

2. If I hadn't stopped working out at the gym a year ago and were still as strong as I was back then, I [could have lifted]/[could lift] 200 kilos at the competition next week.

If John is going to participate in the upcoming competition and knows that it will be impossible for him to lift 200 kilos, would it be correct for him to use the conditional perfect "could have lifted" or should he still use the conditional simple "could lift" in this context in the two versions I've provided?

 

[5jj]

Both scenarios are counterfactual. Use 'could have lifted'.

 

[EngLearner]

3. If I hadn't stopped working out at the gym a year ago, I'd be able to lift 200 kilos at the competition next week.

4. If I hadn't stopped working out at the gym a year ago and were still as strong as I was back then, I'd be able to lift 200 kilos at the competition next week.

How do you like versions #3 and #4 with "would be able to lift"? I'm tempted to use the conditional simple "I would be able to lift 200 kilos" rather than the conditional perfect "I would have been able to lift 200 kilos" because the competition is next week, which is in the future relative to the time of speaking.

 

[jutfrank]

Both scenarios are counterfactual. Use 'would have been able to lift'.

 

[EngLearner]

John, who used to go to the gym with his friend, stopped working out there a year ago and has since become much weaker than he was back then. When his friend tells him about an upcoming competition where he plans to lift 200 kilos, John is unsure whether he should participate. He says sentence A to his friend:

A. If I hadn't stopped working out at the gym a year ago, and were still as strong as I used to be, then if I were to participate in the competition next week, I could lift 200 kilos.

B. I stopped working out at the gym a year ago, so I'm not as strong as I used to be. Therefore, in the unlikely event that I participate in the competition next week, it's unlikely that I'll be able to lift 200 kilos.

If John hasn't decided yet whether he should participate or not, are the bolded tenses used in sentence A correct in this context? Sentence B is my interpretation of sentence A. Is the information that sentence B conveys encoded in sentence A?

 

[emsr2d2]

Sentence B is my interpretation of sentence A.

I'm confused. Who wrote sentence A? If you wrote it yourself, you wouldn't need to "interpret" it because you'd know what you meant.

 

[EngLearner]

Who wrote sentence A? If you wrote it yourself, you wouldn't need to "interpret" it because you'd know what you meant.

I wrote it and I know its meaning. I'm curious to know if others would consider it correct and if they interpret it the same way I do.

 

[emsr2d2]

I wrote it and I know its meaning. I'm curious to know if others would consider it correct and if they interpret it the same way I do.

In that case, you're wording your question/request poorly. There's no need for you to interpret your own words! I would use something like "I wrote sentence B as another way of wording sentence A. Do you think the two sentences convey the same idea/facts?"

 

[EngLearner]

In post #5, I wrote sentence B as another way of wording sentence A. Do you think the two sentences convey the same idea/facts? Are the bolded tenses in sentence A used correctly ("could lift" in particular)?