Imagine there's a very short question at this site, and I'm uncertain what the poster intends to ask.
Should I write
- It would've been great if you'd expanded your question. (matrix clause: Past Perfective modal, conditional clause: Past Perfective)
Or
- It would be great if you expanded your question. (matrix clause: Past modal, conditional clause: Past)
Or
- It will be great if you expand your question. (matrix clause: Future modal, conditional clause: Present Simple referring to the future)
I'm not sure about sentence 1. The verb "expanded" calls for a future action, but in sentence 1 we describe an unfullfilled condition in the past.
Or maybe the construction of sentence 2 is used to refer to a situation that is already "over" and it too far in the past to serve as a hint that I want more infornation now. Maybe such construction would be more suitable in "I remember that question you posed 2 years ago. It would've been great.."
Sentence 2 is what is called a "second conditional", and it is said that a second conditional describes an improbable sutuation in the present. Would it be suitable?
Or does the verb expanded makes the first two options awkward semantically?
Sentence 3 describes an open (possible) condition, but isn't it a bit too mandative?
Best Answer
This implies that the there is no longer a possibility of the question being expanded by whoever "you" is, i.e. it was deleted or locked, or the speaker/writer believes the asker is not returning.
This sounds good, and this construct is frequently used (esp. in a business setting in my opinion) to politely ask someone to do something.
This means the same as the sentence above. I agree that it can come off as too "mandative", as you put it, if the listener/reader isn't aware of your tone, so I suggest the second sentence.
"It would be great if you X" will usually be interpreted as a request. "It would be great if {third-party} X" can be interpreted as a indirect request if the listener has the power to influence the third party.
Something like It would be great if a new road were built here has a conditional meaning - there is not actually a new road, it's a condition to "it would be great." It's not always used to refer to improbable events (is it really impossible that there will never be a road?), though it can - I would freak out if I ever were to see a unicorn in real life.