Have you been to any good ice shows lately? | Page 6 | Golden Skate

Have you been to any good ice shows lately?

Thanks dd for the clip. Hope to see some videos posted on youtube, soon. From the clip it looks like a fabulous
show and Mao is looking adorable and very fit I might add.
 
deedee1 said:
If I ever could have been there, I would not have cared at all which one won over the other one. Because I believe it was indeed a feast for every skating fan in the world to see stunning tangos by Dai and Evgeni back to back. :yes:

(btw, is the above subjunctive mood is correct??? am scratching my head...:scratch:)

And "Welcome to Golden Skate", Evgenia! I love your HN♪ :)
Click to expand...

I agree with you.

About your question: Darned confusing verb usage, isn't it? My preference would be to use had: If I had been there, I would not have cared at all. But it can also work with could have/would have, although that implies ability or opportunity. (In other words, If I had been able to be there, I would not have cared....) The one word you don't need at all is ever. That implies that the event either is of continuous duration or is repeated regularly. This verb tense is frequently misused by native speakers. I often hear someone say "I wish I could have made the right decision" when what he/she means is "I wish I had made the right decision."

mikeko666, thanks for the explanation of the two coaches' styles and results. The idea of technique that doesn't outlast puberty versus the astonishing skills of Shizuka and Arakawa (who, interestingly, seem to be two very different body types--and neither of them are wispy sprites!), is startling. If I were a skater, I'd want to train with Nagakubo. Though I love Mrs. Yamada's students, especially Mao and Ito, it's difficult to watch, for example, the leg wrap that several of her students have. It's especially distressing to realize that Mao's weaknesses are not due to lack of talent or lack of hard work but to an entirely preventable factor.
 
^ What an interesting question about "If I ever could." Besides referring to a continuing or recurring situation, I think "ever" can also mean something like, "by any means possible."

How did they ever manage? How did you ever find out?

"If I ever could have been there," meaning "if I could possibly have found a way to attend," or "If it had somehow been possible for me to be there," or "If only I could have been there!" -- that sounds OK to me.

Then there is the kind of usage that combines "in any way" with duration in time. "How can I ever thank you!" meaning both, "there is no way I can thank you enough" and also, "if I start now and live to be 100 I will never be able to pay you back for your kindness."

Certainly "if ever I could have been there," though somewhat colloquial sounding, has more punch to it than "Had I been able to attend [the white glove tea party...] :) To me, this construction emphasizes the "I" rather than the "could have gone." You are so lucky! If I could ever have gone..."
 
Olympia said:
About your question: Darned confusing verb usage, isn't it? My preference would be to use had: If I had been there, I would not have cared at all. But it can also work with could have/would have, although that implies ability or opportunity. (In other words, If I had been able to be there, I would not have cared....) The one word you don't need at all is ever. That implies that the event either is of continuous duration or is repeated regularly. This verb tense is frequently misused by native speakers. I often hear someone say "I wish I could have made the right decision" when what he/she means is "I wish I had made the right decision."
Click to expand...

Yes! Now I remember that's the one I learned at school: "If I had been able to be there, I would not have cared at all." :yes:
(I first wrote it as; "If I could had have been there..." but it sounded strange I thought, and re-wrote it as previously...:o:)

YOU are my great English teacher, Olympia! I appreciate you and other GS members a lot for always giving me the perfect answer! :)
 
Thank you to you, too, Mathman. :)

While I appreciate that you are trying to comfort me that I did not make a complete mistake, sorry to say this, but you are also giving me a hard time...:o: I have already read your post twice, and still scratching my head trying to thoroughfully understand it.
It's close to midnight in my time, so let me try it tomorrow morning again when my head is fresh and clear! :laugh:
 
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I will try again. "If I had been there, I would not have cared." Impeccable grammar but kind of blah.

What you want to say is, "OMG, if only, somehow, beyond the uttermost reach of my fondest dreams, I could have been so lucky as to have had a chance to be there, I wouldn't have cared if the sky fell on my head!!!!!!" :)

So you want the construction "If I ever could..." to serve that function. Does it?

Yes, I think so. "Ever" means "at some point in the infinite stretch of time." By extension, in a sentence like "How did you ever guess?" it means, "Within the infinite continuum of possible ways that a person might find out something, which one did you light upon?"

So what the phrase "if I ever could have..." communicates is something like, "among the continuum of possible circumstances that might have occurred that would have resulted in me being there, oh, if only one such actually had occurred..."

:cool:
 
Mathman said:
What you want to say is, "OMG, if only, somehow, beyond the uttermost reach of my fondest dreams, I could have been so lucky as to have had a chance to be there, I wouldn't have cared if the sky fell on my head!!!!!!" :)
Click to expand...

:laugh: Now I can understand it much better. You are the sweetest person on GS forum! Thanks. Had a good laugh Monday morning.

btw, are you really a Gemini, Mathman? ;)
Let me guess SkateFiguring's: you are a Leo, ...or a Virgo!, aren't you? :biggrin:
And Olympia... must be a Libra or a Taurus! :)
 
Sorry Deedee. :)

Let me guess the active mods besides Doris:

Tonichelle - Leo
blue dog - Taurus
Kwanfan - Gemini
Mathman - Gemini
 
If you click on "calendar" at the top of the page you can see everyone's birthday (at least the birthday that they claimed when they registered :) ) -- provided that the member clicked "show birthday" when he or she registered.

But never mind about signs, does anyone want to guess deedee1's ketsueki-gata?

Mao Asada's is B: She is wild, active, creative, passionate, and strong. :yes:
 
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OK Deedee, you are the same sign as your favorite skater, a Pisces.

I think I at least got the element right. Toni, a fire sign, blue dog, earth sign, kwanfan and MM are of air signs.

Oh I see Mathman revealed the calendar so there is no fun guessing signs now.
 
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