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CalifJimEverestCTSAlso, would you say this is a would of probability too?More or less, yes, but the speaker is actually saying it, so the idea that "would" indicates probability here is pretty weak.(If you asked me,) I would say .... (vacuous condition)I would say (that) ... is a way of giving an opinion when the speaker does not want to commit to a stronger statement. It's equivalent to It seems to me (that) .... That makes I would say that he is a good person different from saying He is a good person.CJI apologize for saying I was done. When I say an implied condition that is unknown and that could be anything and unnecessary, do you call such condition vacuous condition? With the sentence “I would say…”, I can easily assume the condition as “if somebody asked me” but what about for my other sentences below? What could be the vacuous conditions for the sentences below? Would you mind giving me examples, please? I don’t think I can simply add “if you had asked me”. 1. We haven’t heard from Jimmie for years. What do you think he did when he came out of prison?- He would have gone back home, I suppose.2: We saw a police helicopter overhead yesterday morning. | Really? They would have been looking for those bank robbers.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

EverestCTSWhen I say an implied condition that is unknown and that could be anything and unnecessary, do you call such a condition a vacuous condition?

Not exactly, but that's close to what I mean by "vacuous". "vacuous" means "containing very little". In other words, a vacuous condition adds hardly any information to the sentence you're working with because if you know how English works, you know that information already from the rest of the sentence.

I would say he's smart.

Vacuous condition: If you asked me.

EverestCTSwhat about for my other sentences below?

The whole point about vacuous implicit conditions is that they are unnecessary, as you said above. They don't advance your understanding of English at all. In fact, they just make things more complicated for no reason at all.

This is especially true for the would of probability, and both of your examples have that type of would. So I don't understand why you want to invent these unnecessary conditions. Nevertheless, both of those might have the vacuous condition "If you want my opinion about this".

EverestCTSHe would have gone back home, I suppose.

If you want my opinion, he most likely went back home.

EverestCTSThey would have been looking for those bank robbers.

If you want my opinion, they were looking for the bank robbers.

CJ

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