"If the price were skyrocketing now, we should go get it immediately."

Is this sentence grammatically correct?

See a translation

English (US)
Bengali

I'm sorry but what does your sentence mean? I can't understand it.

Highly-rated answerer

English (US)

A better sentence might be “if the price is skyrocketing now, we should go get it immediately”. You could also say “if the price was skyrocketing we would go get it immediately”. In English it’s confusing to use past tense and present tense verbs in the same sentence. Hope this helps

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Korean

um then, are these sentences grammatically correct?
[ ] <- especially this word/clause.

"If the stock price were skyrocketing now, we [should] go buy it immediately before it gets out of hand."

"If aliens invaded the earth within future 20 years , [we are all dead]."

mokuRat

English (US)
Bengali

@hhoc2000
The second sentence will be,

If aliens invaded the earth within the next 20 years, we would all be dead/ we would all die.

But then again, "we are all dead" CAN actually be grammatically correct... English can be confusing..Im sorry

Highly-rated answerer

Korean

no it's okay! thank you very much

Then how about this first sentence?
"If the stock price were skyrocketing now, we [should/would] go buy it immediately before it gets out of hand."

Can I use 'should' in that box?
Can this 'should' also be grammatically correct?

Sorry to bother you. This is my last question.

mokuRat

English (US)
Bengali

@hhoc2000 A better word would be to use 'invest'.

And the tenses of the first and second sentence does not match in your example.

It should be,
"If the price skyrockets, we should invest in it immediately."

Highly-rated answerer

Korean

Then can I use 'should' in this sentence?

"If the stock price were on the rise, we [should/would] invest in it immediately."

English (US)

The first sentence should be “if the stock price was (‘was’ is used when referring to single objects. ‘Were’ is used when referring to multiple objects) skyrocketing now we would go buy it immediately before it got (got is used here because we are talking about something that might happen not something that is happening now) out of hand.

Korean

@Owen_Barber
Thanks but, can I use 'should' in this sentence?

"If the stock price were on the rise, we [should/would] invest in it immediately."

English (US)

“If stock prices were on the rise we would invest immediately” or “if the stock’s price was on the rise we would invest in it immediately” are correct

English (US)

You can only use “should” if you change the word “were” or “was” to “is”

English (US)

“If the stock price is on the rise we should invest immediately”

Korean

no I mean to say 'if the price were ~' <- completely hypothetical meaning

English (US)

In that case you would still use “would” because you are speculating about something in the future.

For example I would say “if I were you I would go for it” instead of “if I were you I should go for it”

Korean

Do you mean this sentence is not correct?

"If the stock price were on the rise, you 'should'(=in the sense of 'have to', 'must') invest in it immediately."

English (US)

That sentence is not grammatically correct. In this case saying “if the stock price is on the rise you should invest immediately” means the same thing you are trying to communicate and is grammatically correct.

English (US)

Changing “were” to “is” does not change the hypothetical meaning in this case.

Korean

Thank you

Changing “were” to “is” does not change the hypothetical meaning in this case.
-> isn't it like this? -> 'were' is a 0% possibility. 'is' is just a conditional.

English (US)

“Were” is used to refer to the state of several objects in the past. “Is” is used to refer to the current state of a single object.

English is weird and there are many exceptions. It seems like you have a good understanding of the language and you’re able to communicate clearly. Little things like this are easier to pick up over time than they are to explain

Korean

What I said was about 'is' and 'were' in those settings. present conditional.

Thanks anyway