If S were to do vs. If S should do

Hi Taka,

(a) If such a thing were to happen, what shall we do?
(b) If such a thing should happen, what shall we do?

You might say there is not much difference between them. But if any, what kind of difference do you native speakers feel there is between (a) and (b)?
First, I think that instead of 'shall', yo

"were to" is a bit redundant.

If such a thing happened, / If such a thing were to happen,

With "should", we also use this word to indicate actions we expect. I usually hear both omitted, with should being used less. If you want to place any emphasis, you could use "has to".

If that has to happen, what should we do?

Compare the above two examples wi

In comparison to "if such a thing happened",
"if such a thing were to happen" strikes me as being in a higher register (i.e., sounds more formal),
and "if such a thing should happen" sounds old-fashioned and school-marmy.

Other than these factors, which have little to do with the actual meaning, which is virtually identical, I feel no differences. Not all native speakers

Thank you, people.

I should have given different examples. Please forget the verb 'happen'.

(a) If I were to die tomorrow, what would I do?
(b) If I should die tomorrow, what would I do?

I'm interested in the difference in terms of the subjectivity of judgements about the thing that might

Hi Taka,

(a) If I were to die tomorrow, what would I do?
(b) If I should die tomorrow, what would I do?

Well, if I died tomorrow, I wouldn't be able to do anything, would I? (Ha-ha)

Clive

Oh, man! That's a terrible typo! I meant to say:


(a) If I were to die tomorrow, what would you do?
(b) If I should die tomorrow, what would you do?

Hi Clive,

"if I died tomorrow"- I am curious to understand if it is a correct sentence?

Hi Krish,

Yes. I believe this is called 'conditional two'.

Best wishes, Clive

Hi Taka,

Well, that was fun. Now, back to business. I still think number two hints at a bit more possibility.

(a) If I were to die tomorrow, what would you do?
(b) If I should die tomorrow, what would you do?

Clive,

CliveI still think number two hints at a bit more possibility.

What do you think makes you think that way? Because of an urgent impression implied by 'should' or something?

Clive I don't think imminent death is an excuse for using language imprecisely, do you?

Hi,

I think it's because If I were to die makes it sound, to me, a bit more clearly hypothetical.

I don't want to overstate my comment about this thread. You originally asked about what I 'felt', and that's what I based my answer on. As you know, it's hard to come up with clear explanations for such feelings.

Let's wait at this