[Nightedge]

Hi could you help me with a question?

Several days ago republican senator from GEorgia Saxby Chambliss said

If we were to capture some of the benghazi terrorists, who we know today are running free, what are we going to do with them?

In English the protasis should be followed strictly in tense by the apodosis; then shouldn't 'are' in 'are we' have been 'would be'?

[susan53]

The key word here is "said". This is a case of anacoluthon. By the time the speaker gets to the end of the sentence, he's forgotten what he said at the beginning, and so the end doesn't follow on grammatically. The final part should be "what would we do with them?" This happens a lot in speech because of the "real time" conditions - it's difficult for the brain to decide what to say and how to say it at the same time as actually saying it. The cognitive load is too great, leading to this type of inconsistency.

[Nightedge]

An answer with panache and of authoritative ness. Thank you.

[abarboza]

Not much too add to what Susan said. People missuse grammar in everyday conversations. Remember you are a teacher so you are aware of English usage. Most people aren't.