PyroPeter wrote:
If the other TU's would have been like "I don't care", they would have used the "abstain" option.
Question in matters of language: How do I merge the subjunctive mood and the negation into a grammatically correct sentence? "If the other TU's would not have cared, ..."?
Regards, PyroPeter
Using "have": "Had the other TUs not cared, they would have abstained." "If the other TUs hadn't cared, ..." Compare: "Had I not been there, I would have been elsewhere." "If I hadn't been there, ..." Using "do": "If they didn't care, they would have abstained". Compare: "If I didn't know better, I would call him an idiot." For a bit of logical completeness: Formulations such as "Did they not care, ..." might be correct in a strict sense but they would sound very wrong to most speakers, as though it were a question. "Cared they not, ..." might also be correct but it sounds archaic and unnatural (even though I would prefer it if we could drop the silly use of the auxiliary verb "do"... and re-introduce "thou" to match "du" and "tu" while we're at it). "Cared thou not, thou would have abstained." ;)