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Perfect Stranger Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Grammar question no. 64: the door wouldn't open

Dear All,

Here's a multiple choice task. One sentence, 4 answers. I know the answer but... what I don't know is why this answer is correct and why the other one's are not.

The door ____ open, no matter how hard she pushed.

A) shouldn't
B) couldn't
C) wouldn't
D) mightn't

Of course C is the correct answer but... I don't know why. Is this sentence in the active voice?

Thanks
  

Top answer

Are you happy with "The door will not open, no matter how hard she pushes "? Your sentence with "would" is just the past-tense version of that. Yes, it's active.

— GPY

  • Are you happy with "The door will not open, no matter how hard she pushes "?
  • Your sentence with "would" is just the past-tense version of that.
  • Yes, it's active.
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16 Answers
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Are you happy with "The door will not open, no matter how hard she pushes"? Your sentence with "would" is just the past-tense version of that. Yes, it's active.
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Thanks GPY.

Why then would we have to change the voice from active to passive if we wanted to use couldn't?

The door couldn't be opened, no matter how hard she pushed.
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Perfect StrangerWhy then would we have to change the voice from active to passive if we wanted to use couldn't?The door couldn't be opened, no matter how hard she pushed.
"the door couldn't open" sounds as if the door has its own volition.
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Perfect StrangerC is the correct answer but... I don't know why.
It's an idiomatic use of "won't" and "wouldn't". These mean, more or less, "refuses to" and "refused to", respectively. It seems odd to paraphrase it that way with an inanimate subject, but that's essentially the meaning. Maybe "fail(ed) to" is a better paraphrase with inanimate subjects.
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GPY"the door couldn't open" sounds as if the door has its own volition.
I agree, but in the right context this should be possible.

They wanted to be sure that the door wouldn't blow away in the approaching hurricane, so they nailed the door shut. That way, the door couldn't open.

Or would you say it has to be That way, the door wou
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CalifJim GPY"the door couldn't open" sounds as if the door has its own volition.I agree, but in the right context this should be possible.They wanted to be sure that the door wouldn't blow away in the approaching hurricane, so they nailed the door shut. That way, the door couldn't open.Or would you say it has to be That way, the door would not be able to open?Or are both
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GPYhope we agree that it wouldn't work at all in the original context
Yes. The context is wrong for "couldn't" in the original.

CJ
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Thank you so much for your explanations.

If I may, I'd like to ask about answer D... mightn't. Now, I don't know if my way of thinking is correct or not but this answer doesn't really work because might is one of these modal verbs that implies a 50/50 chance of succeeding and if the later part of the sentence says no matter how hard she pushed
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Perfect StrangerI'd like to ask about answer D... mightn't.
It's the word "pushed" that causes me to reject D as an answer. I could accept, however:

The door might not open no matter how hard she pushes. This would be said before she tries to open the door.

By the way, in the variety of English that I speak "might
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Thank you CJ. Would you say then that my way of thinking about D and might involving some possibility of opening the door was correct?
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