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treated / would treat

English translation: either is OK

20:21 Jun 17, 2017
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / basic English grammar/verb tenses
English term or phrase: treated / would treat
In 19 century, the pharmacy played an important role in people’s lives, for you could buy almost everything here, from ordinary drugs to cosmetics. Due to the lack of pharmaceutical specialists, the functions of a pharmacist were very often performed by physicians. That is why a doctor would quite often receive his patients right in the pharmacy and sometimes treated them rigth here using different methods.

I wonder what verbal form would be best (or more correct) to use here? Please advise.
Thank you.
P.S. This is my translation from Russian.
Andrew Vdovin
Local time: 06:34
Selected answer:either is OK
Explanation:
As you have used 'would often' to introduce the phrase, you could even use just 'treat', following on from the existing 'would'; note if you do choose to repeat 'would', it needs to go before the 'sometimes': 'and would sometimes treat'...

You might find the sentence flows better if you and in an 'even'; and the 2 instances of 'right' sound a bit clumsy. You may also need to watch out for here / there: your sentnce kind of begs rewording as "That is why a doctor would quite often receive his patients right there in the pharmacy and sometimes treated them on the spot." If the first 'there' is strongly implied, then it could sound awkward to change it to 'here' — unless, for example, this is a spoken commentary and the person is standing on the very blood-stained spot on the floor where they wer treated!
Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:34
Grading comment
Thanks a lot for your help Tony!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +8either is OK
Tony M


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +8
either is OK


Explanation:
As you have used 'would often' to introduce the phrase, you could even use just 'treat', following on from the existing 'would'; note if you do choose to repeat 'would', it needs to go before the 'sometimes': 'and would sometimes treat'...

You might find the sentence flows better if you and in an 'even'; and the 2 instances of 'right' sound a bit clumsy. You may also need to watch out for here / there: your sentnce kind of begs rewording as "That is why a doctor would quite often receive his patients right there in the pharmacy and sometimes treated them on the spot." If the first 'there' is strongly implied, then it could sound awkward to change it to 'here' — unless, for example, this is a spoken commentary and the person is standing on the very blood-stained spot on the floor where they wer treated!

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:34
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 309
Grading comment
Thanks a lot for your help Tony!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Herbmione Granger: My preference: 'That is why a doctor would often receive his patients in the pharmacy and sometimes even treat them right there...' This structure avoids most redundancies, which are not tolerated well in English.
50 mins
  -> Thanks, H/C! Yes, it really needs that sort of level of rewriting; in fact, I'd almost run it on using '..., which is why...'
agree  Helena Chavarria: I would also use 'treat', without repeating 'would'.
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Helena! It could work well, if attention is paid to the sentence structure.
agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
7 hrs
  -> Thanks, Yasutomo-san!
agree  philgoddard
8 hrs
  -> Thanks, Phil!
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: "treat right" awkward. I'd rephrase: That is why a doctor quite often SAW his patients in the pharmacy itself and WOULD sometimes treat them on the spot. (would treat=characteristic behaviour)
13 hrs
  -> Thanks, G!
agree  Arabic & More: Agree with herbalchemist and your response (continuing the sentence with a comma instead of beginning a new one).
13 hrs
  -> Thanks, Amel!
agree  Tina Vonhof (X): Agree with Gallagy's suggestion.
18 hrs
  -> Thanks, Tina!
agree  acetran
3 days 10 hrs
  -> Thanks, Ace!
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