Could/would
Is this okay and what’s the difference :
If I speak too loudly I’m afraid they would/could hear me because the walls are very thin.
Top answer
anon006 If I speak too loudly I’m afraid they would/could hear me because the walls are very thin. It is not clear that this is correct. If you are talking about a present/future consequence, you probably want: a) If I speak too loudly, I’m afraid (that) they will hear me b) If I speak too loudly, I’m afraid (that) they will be able to hear me The difference between (a) hearing someone and (b) being able to hear someone is hopefully fairly obvious, but in practice the difference may often not be very important, since if you can hear someone, you normally do hear them.
- anon006 If I speak too loudly I’m afraid they would/could hear me because the walls are very thin.
- It is not clear that this is correct.
- If you are talking about a present/future consequence, you probably want: a) If I speak too loudly, I’m afraid (that) they will hear me b) If I speak too loudly, I’m afraid (that) they will be able to hear me The difference between (a) hearing someone and (b) being able to hear someone is hopefully fairly obvious, but in practice the difference may often not be very important, since if you can hear someone, you normally do hear them.
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anon006If I speak too loudly I’m afraid they would/could hear me because the walls are very thin.
It is not clear that this is correct. If you are talking about a present/future consequence, you probably want:
a) If I speak too loudly, I’m afraid (that) they will hear me
b) If I speak too loudly, I’m afraid (that) they will be able to he
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