I was teaching ESL class and came across a sentence "If you asked me, I would apologize and tell you I was too busy". A student in the class asked the reason why "I was too busy" is used instead of "I am too busy".
Learn English – “If you asked me, I would apologize and tell you I {am / was} busy”
conditional-constructionstense
Related Solutions
You have understood the phrase perfectly: it is another way of saying "If you had asked..."
(My personal opinion is that it is a pointlessly pompous way of saying it; but I didn't get a vote.)
The base idiom is BE to VERB, where BE is the appropriate form of the verb be and VERB is the infinitive form of any verb. It means, approximately, "suppose", in both the senses in which that quirky word is used.
Thus, in the indicative (real) mode it means be supposed or expected to do whatever VERB names. For instance, I am to go to London tomorrow means "I am supposed to go" or "I am expected to go to London tomorrow".
In the irrealis mode, expressed with the past form, it takes the other meaning of suppose, "assume as a hypothesis". If I were to go to London (or, alternatively, Were I to go to London) means "Let us suppose that I go to London" or "If we assume that I go to London".
In your example, the author asks you to "suppose" not something which happened in the present, which would be expressed as "If you were to ask world leaders today", but something which happened in the past, a few hundred years ago. You have to 'backshift' the expression from present to past.
But you can't do that in the ordinary way, by using the ordinary past form of BE, were—because you've already used up that form in the present. The workaround in English for expressing a past irrealis is to employ the appropriate form of HAVE + the past participle of VERB: "If you were to have asked world leaders a few hundred years ago".
Notice that the same workaround is employed in the ordinary, non-pompous way of expressing the same thought: "If you asked world leaders today" is backshifted as "If you had asked world leaders a few hundred years ago".
This looks like a perfect construction, but it's not; it's the past irrealis construction.
I was hoping ~
When stated after the event has occurred/not occured, it implies something (slightly) expected and pleasent came true/ the opposite came true. The expectation doesn't have to be something you were 100% certain of, it could be more like 60% (I think it is possible, but I dont know for sure). Tone of voice and emphasis will tell you which way:
I was hoping he'd pick me... (he picked another person)
I was hoping you'd buy a large pizza... (they bought a small or medium)
A dissapointed voice means that the hope didnt happen. If any words are emphasized, they are the relevant part of the wish.
I was hoping you say that!
I was hoping he'd be here.
If the tone is happy, it means the wish came true.
Note that in the above, the statement was made after the event happened or the opposite happened. If stated before the event, then the speaker is expressing their desires. It can sometimes also be a request, but it feels a little demanding.
I was hoping you would take a look at my computer
A more polite version of all three of these is the "could" version.
Because "could" is a form of "can", it feels like the situation is responsible, not the people.
I was hoping he could make it to the party... (but he did not make it, maybe he was busy with work)
Just as before, the speaker is expressing dissapointment, but is explicitly not blaming anyone.
I was hoping you could eat with us (as they are all at dinner together)
This expresses joy, but makes it seem like they were doing you a favour. It's an indirect way to say thank you.
I was hoping you could help me with my homework
This is a polite request.
Anyways, for the non-requests versions, you can change the tense from simple present to present perfect (notice -> have noticed) and it means basically the same thing. But it adds the nuance that the wish coming true or not has some significance to the present.
I was hoping you would have been home (but since you are not, you will miss Game of Thrones)
I was hoping you'd have known the answer (and because you did, you were able to tell the answer to me, yay!)
Best Answer
Verbforms in a conditional like this, employing what we used to call "reported" speech, without direct quotation, will be shaped by the context—specifically, the verbform in the clause representing the speech will depend on whether the hypothetical "scopes" over the subordinate clause.
Here the context is a question about B's hypothetical action (what would you say) respecting a possible and knowable future action. Since as a matter of actual fact B is not free, she responds with an ordinary indicative.
Here the context is an allegation about B's hypothetical action (you would go) in a hypothetical situation (if you were busy). Since B's denial does not reflect an actual situation but a hypothetical situation, she responds with a past form—what the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language calls a "modally remote" use of the past.