As you say, there’s so much else going on here, to the point where a rewrite may make commenting on “would have” unnecessary, but I’d suggest that at a grammatical level (setting to one side the discourse issues), the student has committed a simple tense error, using “would” when “will” would be more appropriate.

I've found it helpful to show students how tense sequence applies with will/would (and can/could) with “will” and “can” co-occurring with other present-tense verbs, and “would” and “could” with past-tense verbs.

Changing “would” to “will” doesn’t address the other problems, but I think it makes better sense of the author’s intentions.

Regards,

Karl Hagen

> On Feb 13, 2017, at 7:55 AM, MARCY HELEN NICHOLAS <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Dear Colleagues,
> 
> After fourteen years away from teaching undergraduate writing (2002), I have returned to the classroom to teach FYC and MMPW courses. Admittedly, I am reviewing my sentence grammar, and I have come across a student sentence that I know is incorrect in its context, but I do not know how to explain this to the student.
> 
> Here's the context. For the first writing assignment in FYC this semester, I assigned the students to write two letters, one to their parents/significant other and one to their academic adviser. In the letters, the students were to set forth their academic/professional goals and plans. I wanted the students to play around with audience and purpose in an intentional way.
> 
> In a letter to his parents, one student wrote this.
> "Due to the work ethic I had in high school, my dual enrollment classes have given me the chance to complete my undergraduate education degree in three years. I have been highly interested in taking advantage of this opportunity. The classes would have to be one or two general education  classes in the winter/summer semesters. This is a great chance to get into my classes that are geared toward my major at main campus and start my medical schooling a year earlier." 
> 
> Although there is so much to comment upon in all of these sentences, it is this third sentence, with the "would have to be.." that is confusing me. On the one hand, the first sentence seems to suggest that he has already taken the dual enrollment courses and is now in the present experiencing the benefits of this.  In that case, he needed to write something like "The class had to be... So if it is a global issue of chronology, he could clear that up in other ways. But I would like to know what is this "would have" in this context about? OR what he may have been trying to do...
> 
> Thanks so much for your help. I look forward to being among you again as I once was so many years ago.
> 
> Marcy Nicholas
> Penn State York
> Instructor of English
> 1031 Edgecomb Avenue
> York PA 17403
> 
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
>     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
> 
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/