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J Lin Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Conditional
"I'm saying if just one if us goes, then the other one would still have a chance of finding him in case the worst happens"
In this sentence, how does the person speaking use the present tense, goes, in the first clause and past, would, in the second? Need clarification.
In this sentence, how does the person speaking use the present tense, goes, in the first clause and past, would, in the second? Need clarification.
Top answer
J Lin "I'm saying if just one if us goes, then the other one would still have a chance of finding him in case the worst happens" It seems to me that the speaker was not certain enough to use "will", so he used "would" instead to show his doubt (that the worst would ever actually happen, perhaps). In this context "will" is the technically correct form, but people do occasionally use "would" in a present-tense context when they want to emphasize that they are talking only about a theoretical possibility, not something they are sure will happen. In these cases "would" should not be considered a past tense.
- J Lin "I'm saying if just one if us goes, then the other one would still have a chance of finding him in case the worst happens" It seems to me that the speaker was not certain enough to use "will", so he used "would" instead to show his doubt (that the worst would ever actually happen, perhaps).
- In this context "will" is the technically correct form, but people do occasionally use "would" in a present-tense context when they want to emphasize that they are talking only about a theoretical possibility, not something they are sure will happen.
- In these cases "would" should not be considered a past tense.
- It's just a way of showing the speaker's attitude toward what he is saying.
- CJ
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J Lin"I'm saying if just one if us goes, then the other one would still have a chance of finding him in case the worst happens"It seems to me that the speaker was not certain enough to use "will", so he used "would" instead to show his doubt (that the worst would ever actually happen, perhaps). In this context "will" is the technically correct form, but peop
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