[Ads-l] QOTY "He's obviously stepped in it" / WOTY "pivot", v.

[wh5mith]

"could" is conditional, which goes with contrary-to-fact "if,"  Is it correct for undetermined future?
 A brilliant casuist disproved every false generalization. He is justly known lately. Moreover, no pompous quibbler really said that useful verities were xenophobic yet zealous. 

    On Tuesday, June 7, 2016 4:52 PM, Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
 

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Sender:      American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:      Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
Subject:      QOTY "He's obviously stepped in it" /  WOTY "pivot", v.
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Both from Republican Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations C=
ommittee.
-----
Donald Trump has two to three weeks to fix his campaign or lose so much Rep=
ublican support that it would doom his run for the presidency, Senate Forei=
gn Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker told Yahoo News on Tuesday.

=E2=80=9CHe=E2=80=99s obviously stepped in it. He=E2=80=99s made statements=
 that are inappropriate,=E2=80=9D Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, said=
 in a telephone interview. The senator was referring to Trump=E2=80=99s wid=
ely condemned declaration that a Mexican-American judge is unfit to preside=
 over a Trump University lawsuit because of the judge=E2=80=99s heritage.

=E2=80=9CHe=E2=80=99s got this defining period that=E2=80=99s over the next=
 two or three weeks where he could pivot, can pivot, hopefully will pivot t=
o a place where he becomes a true general election candidate,=E2=80=9D Cork=
er warned.
-----
Note the conjugation of mood and tense (I hope I'm using the correct terms)=
.

Joel


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