How 'could' works in this sentence?

Question

Here's a situation:A friend and I comes into my room,and he's already decided he's going to be living with me for a while.After looking around, he's like,'Well, this could be very good.'I would simply say, 'Well, this is very good.'what effect happens with 'could' in this situation?

Meteorquake · Accepted Answer

He's not actually moved in just looking around.
So the good situation hasn't happened for him yet - so for him it is not 'is' but a future possibility - 'could' - suggestive that he expects it 'will' or 'can' (if done right) be good.
d

Ivanhr · Answer

Your friend thinks more about the future whereas you think about the present.  "could" indicates that he will  probably be satisfied with his stay at your  place (once he's moved in with you).

Meteorquake · Answer

When the emphasis is spoken on the 'this' it particularly shows a sense of good expectations.
Emphasising the 'could' shows uncertainty or that some additional arranging needs to be done.
d

Anonymous · Answer

Okay, I think I got it.
My take is that there would`ve been an 'if'.
So if I was right, the 'if' might be like this:
(If I moved in here), this could be very nice.
I`m guessing he wasn`t sure if he would come to my flat
with all his luggage yet.
Thanks for your answer, and if you check this
give me some more teaching, would you?

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for your answer.
I`d been supposing that 'could' be much weaker than 'would',
so I thought 'could' might well be called [weak possibility].
So if the original sentence is put another way, I think this can be one of the paraphrases:
If I were to come here and be staying with you for a while,
it would be (quite-when stress is given to 'this',
rarely-stress to ''could') possible
for this (flat of mine or what you have) to be very good for me.

And if he said 'this would be very good.'
then the meaning would more hopeful and positive to me
than 'could', because he thinks my flat will be surely fit to him
once he`s moved in, which is of course not certain yet
on account of the implied 'if' is hypothetical or not that real.

I`m no native speaker, and so my English looks not that good.
I`m teaching a student about English.

This question is one of his,
so I`ve been wanting to give him a clear answer
and was trying to dig good answers out of grammar books
but I couldn`t.
Every single of your answers is always a huge help to me.
I`d like to say thank you again.

Ivanhr · Answer

Anonymous(If I moved in here), this could be very nice.

But this would mean that your friend does not expect or plan to move in with you (hence the second conditonal), so this interpretation is probably not right.

It's only after your friend has moved in and lived with you for some time, that he or she can use "is" instead of "could". But since he or she is not certain, at the time of saying that sentence, whether the stay will indeed be good, it's quite logical that he or she used "could" and not "is".

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for fixing it.

I think I have a misunderstanding.
Then just using 'can' is also available in that situation?
What if 'will' or 'would'?
I suppose in that situation there are different shades of meaning
between the four words, 'can', 'could', 'will', 'would'.
but I often get lost. Very confused.
I understand that 'could' is milder and more polite than 'can'
and the same goes with 'will' and 'would'.
Then what`s the core difference
between will and can about possibility?
Their meanings seem quite close sometimes.
I`d like to get some more information on that,
so would you mind going into details on that?
If I could get, I would be able to teach my student way better!

Meteorquake · Answer

The difference is this...

If the two warring parties in Syria come together in a Peace conference they
can <--true
will <--false
solve all their differences and make peace.

they have the ability (can) but not the will (will = will in fact happen)

d

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks, meteorquake, but I can't figure out yet what you mean by 'true' and 'false'.
what is false and what is true?

In your example,
'if the two warring parties in Syria come together in a Peace conference,'
they a. can solve all their differences and make peace.
b, will solve all their differences and make peace.
did you mean, in 'a', they have the ability to solve all their differences
but there are chances that they're not willing to,
while in 'b' it's predictable for them to solve all their differences
or 'b' just imply they're inclined to?

What I was hoping to know is the difference
between 'can','could' vs 'will','would' in the situation I set up.

Sorry I'm bothering you.

How 'could' works in this sentence?

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