English Language & Usage Asked by Ace Ace on July 26, 2021
“The PM is seeking legally binding changes to the backstop – the plan to avoid the return of Irish border checks should no EU-UK trade deal be in place.”
I don’t understand the grammatical structure.
The first line is the Prime Ministers aim: this is to make changes to the backstop agreement.
Most of the sentence is a definition of the backstop-.
So, the backstop is the plan to avoid XXXX if there is no EU-UK trade deal.
She wants to change the backstop- which is the plan to avoid the return of Irish border checks should no EU-UK trade deal be in place.
When "if" is removed from a conditional clause, there is inversion.
Read as: "...the plan, if no EU-UK trade deal should be in place"
In very formal English 'were to,' 'should,' and 'might' are still used:
Read as: "...the plan, if no EU-UK trade deal is in place".
Correct answer by Hugh on July 26, 2021
It looks like that you are not clearly understood in the clause below.
should no EU-UK trade deal be in place
The original form (before inversion) is "if no EU-UK trade deal should be in place".
We can move should to position it in front of the clause, condtioning that we remove the 'if':
Should no EU-UK trade deal be in place. ('no' implies 'not any' and the clasue is in a negative form)
If he should not leave now, I would also stay here.
Should he not leave now, I would also stay here.
Answered by Brandon on July 26, 2021
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