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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Conditional

Hi

Everytime one "would" appears in a sentence, it means "conditional"?

For example:

"What would your sample be used for."

-what tense is the sentence above?

-is "conditional" a tense?

Thanks!
  

Top answer

-- No. -- This could be timeless present or it could be past habit; more context is required. -- No, it is just a kind of clause.

— Mister Micawber

  • -- No.
  • -- This could be timeless present or it could be past habit; more context is required.
  • -- No, it is just a kind of clause.
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3 Answers
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Every time one "would" appears in a sentence, it means "conditional"?-- No. It has other uses, like the past of 'will' ('He told me that he would arrive at 7') and for past habit ('When I was a child, I would walk 10 km to school every day')


"What would your sample be used for."-what tense is the sentence above?-- This could be timeless present or it could be past
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Hi Mister M

Here is the context. The sentence comes from a brochure (clinical trials) in which patients are explained what their samples will be used for. And I came across a sentence (title) that read:

"What your sample will be used for." And then it goes on to explain: "To help sceintists...."

And I "corrected" the sentence by saying "What would your sample
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Well, the original is not correct as a question, but it is certainbly not a sentence-- it is just a noun phrase. If it is considered a question, then your revision changed the meaning-- you changed it from Conditional I (likely event) to Conditional II (unlikely event). It is not wrong; it is just different. The original, if a question, would read: 'What will your sample be used for
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