Could / Would / Confusion

[GyZ]

Hello, thank you for checking on this. I'm having an obvious misconception about the proper usage of "could" and "would" as my latest article have been rejected with pointers given about my related deficit. Here is the rejection information I got:

"Article exhibits problems with tense shift/inappropriate use of the conditional tense (could/would)."

I am super-reluctant to harass CC with text I didn't check many times, but what I falsely believe to be proper wording, may quickly turn out to be faulty once scrutinized by more involved eyes. Please share your opinion about these examples I deliver. In these snippets below, I give the original text which I suspect may contain the mistake, then I give my attempt at fixing it.

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Probably faulty:
If you have pixel data stored in your computer’s memory, you could paste that information into a selection region (...)

Attempt at fixing it:
If you have pixel data stored in your computer’s memory, you can paste that information into a selection region (...)

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Probably faulty:
To invert this selection, so everything would be selected except the current selection (...)

Attempt at fixing it:
To invert this selection, so everything is selected except the current selection (...)

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Probably faulty:
In case you have applied a Filter on a Layer or on a selection, you could repeat that Filter using the Ctrl + f hotkey combination.

Attempt at fixing it:
In case you have applied a Filter on a Layer or on a selection, you can repeat that Filter using the Ctrl + f hotkey combination.

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Probably faulty:
Getting rid of these unwanted pixels manually could be troublesome (...)

Attempt at fixing it:
Getting rid of these unwanted pixels manually can be troublesome (...)

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Probably faulty:
Using the f hotkey and the TAB + f hotkey combination, you could find the right amount of interface elements – including none of those.

Attempt at fixing it:
Using the f hotkey and the TAB + f hotkey combination, you can find the right amount of interface elements – including none of those.

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Please share your input if you think that the corrected versions are better than their original variants. If you do not think that, then, please share your input even more. Thank you for your time.

[Ed]

You hit on the problem exactly, and your fixes are the correct ones!

The following page gives some examples and rules if you want more information. There is a table at the bottom of the page for quick reference:
http://www.englishpage.com/conditional/ ... intro.html

Thanks,
Ed

[nichewriter]

In addition to the resource Ed gave, here is another one that I found very helpful:

http://www.speakspeak.com/html/d10b000_ ... ionals.htm

My last rejection (28 articles ago) was for the same reason and I'm truly glad Ed pointed that out to me - I've been very careful about my tense shifts and conditional tenses since (and fingers crossed, haven't gotten a rejection since then)!

[Ed]

I didn't have a good web resource until today, so I'm sorry I couldn't provide you with the same. Either I was looking in the wrong place, or Google did some timely reindexing!

[nichewriter]

That's okay, Ed. The reason you indicated in my rejection notice was enough to get me to read up thoroughly on conditional tenses before submitting that article. I'm really, really trying not to get rejections. I know I have a bunch of articles in review but before they got there, they simmered in my hard drive for about a week and got proofed many, many times

[Lysis]

That's okay, Ed. The reason you indicated in my rejection notice was enough to get me to read up thoroughly on conditional tenses before submitting that article. I'm really, really trying not to get rejections. I know I have a bunch of articles in review but before they got there, they simmered in my hard drive for about a week and got proofed many, many times

LOL seriously, it feels much better knowing some of the veterans struggle too. I'm pretty proud of my lowered rejection rate lately. RAWR

[nichewriter]

Hehe, Lysis, every time I'm about to submit an article, I still sweat and worry about it until they get approved! I still dread getting an email notification that my article got rejected and I breathe a huge sigh of relief whenever the "Your Article Has Been Accepted" email lands in my inbox. I used to submit 6 to 10 articles a day after I've let them sit 2 to 3 days, but I was getting rejections every 15 or so articles. So I started letting them sit for about a week and I edit and proofread them to death. I haven't had any rejections since I started doing that - and besides, while they're sitting in the queue, I still double-check on them and I get so happy Ed hasn't gotten to the ones I manage to find an error or two

[Ed]

while they're sitting in the queue, I still double-check on them

What a great practice. Even if writers would go back and proofread their short summaries, they would save themselves a lot of rejection notifications!

[GyZ]

Thank you for the feedback and for the online resources. I will bookmark them for five eternities. It is indeed a palpable spiritual experience, when you meet the word "accepted" or "rejected" at the end of the CC reply. Funny how five letters can shape a random reality, as, once I get a rejection from CC, I stop everything else and I try to find out what the problem is with the text. Seems to me that the important thing is to unconditionally accept rejection, (sic!) as this is a very efficient way of learning how to construct text worth reading.

to nichewriter:
Very useful practices indeed and I can relate with the emotional state you are suggesting regarding the submissions, too. You mention you submit 6-10 articles a day. This sounds as epic productivity, may I ask what subject you are into/after?

[GyZ]

Oops, please feel free to disregard my question, I just found out that it is possible to get more information about an author simply by clicking on the name.