ATEG list members:

 

Please comment on the following sentence and on two things in my note about it: #1 my conclusion that “have a chip” is correct after all and #2 my use of the phrase “she still does have.”

 

The sentence: “We wouldn’t be here today with Petunia if she didn’t have a chip.” (A long lost dog was returned to her owners after she was found to have an implanted microchip identifying her. An MSNBC internet story.)

 

My note about the sentence: I would have said, “We wouldn’t be here today with Petunia if she hadn’t had a chip.”  But upon thinking it over, I now decide that since presumably she still does have a chip, “have a chip is correct” after all. What do you think?

 

Thanks for your help everybody.

 

Martha