could and would

Question

I often get confused when to use could and would in different situations,

Could any one please help me to understanding the concept of could and would? how they are used in past, present and future in conversations or in sentences.

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

See the Related forum topics below.

Rover

Wonder123 · Answer

Ok thanks

Habiba Ahmed · Answer

‘Would’ is the past tense of ‘will’ whereas, ‘could’ is the past tense of ‘can’. ‘Could’ is mostly used to denote possibility and ‘would’ is used to refer ability and certainty.

Take a look in the example , ‘my mother said that I would make beautiful paintings when I was so young.’

If we replace the word ‘would’ with ‘could’, the entire meaning of the sentence will be changed.

‘Would’ means that you made beautiful paintings in the past. In this example, would is expressing your past action.

On the other hand, if you use ‘could’, it means that you had the ability to make beautiful paintings. It is not expressing an action.

Click on the link below to read more about Could vs. Would,

http://wordeng.com/confusing-words/could-vs-would

Thank You!

could and would

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