"Desperate dawns" (subject + verb?) Adjective desperate has been used as a noun here?

Michael Leddy knows nothing about language, Dale. His is ignorance from beginning to end.



You initially wrote: However it was wrong inasmuch as I said, "yes," where you had asked if it were a noun.

That's right, Dale, it was a feeling of past tense because it was past tense - it was asked whether or not it was a noun.

I hear what you're sayin' JTT but "was" seems to imply that it had been changed in the meantime

If my son was a baby: Well, he was
If he were a baby: I'd be surprised since he's 36 years old

You're locked on to this "if", Dale, and your operating under the mistaken assumption that all ifs are counterfactuals/unreal situations/opposite to fact situations.

Your 'if' is a 'whether'. There is no connection to 'if' unreal, as in,

If we lived on the moon / If the oceans were wine / If A2K didn't exist / ...

Your 'if' is this 'if';

I want to know if [whether or not] you like pizza / I want to know if [whether or not] you live in Los Angeles.



Now you are getting into unreal 'if'. Your earlier example, discussed above, is not this nonreality 'if'.

Notice that these nonreality if's are not the equivalent of 'whether'.

Wow JTT I'm impressed by the depth of technicality, wish I could respond

I stayed away from the technical, Dale. It was all in words that you are familiar with.

1. You can, Dale, if you think about these different language situations.

2. You could, Dale, if you think about these different language situations.

3. You could, Dale, if you thought about these different language situations.

Each of these sentences, from 1 to 3, moves progressively more towards the nonreality side of the Reality - Nonreality Spectrum. But even #3 doesn't state total unreality, even with the 'could' and past tense FORM 'thought' being used.

It's really very simple. Not all if's are nonreality if's.

"if you want a cookie, please take one" = Under this very real condition of real cookies sitting right in front of you, you have my permission, as owner of the cookies, to have one.

"If you wanted a cookie and if there were cookies on the table, you could have one." = In the completely theoretical/unreal condition of cookies existing, if some existed, it would be possible for you to have one.