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Ac2000 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Should vs would
Hello,
given the sentence:
If I had lots of money, I would buy a new car.
Can the "would" be replaced by "should" in this sentence?
My dictionary says, that in formal BE "should can be used after I or We instead of would for describing what you would do if something else happened first."
But I'm not sure, because 'having money' is nothing that happens but rather a state. So I wonder if the sentence is still OK?
Best wishes
Anna
given the sentence:
If I had lots of money, I would buy a new car.
Can the "would" be replaced by "should" in this sentence?
My dictionary says, that in formal BE "should can be used after I or We instead of would for describing what you would do if something else happened first."
But I'm not sure, because 'having money' is nothing that happens but rather a state. So I wonder if the sentence is still OK?
Best wishes
Anna
Top answer
Hi, ac2000 If I had lots of money, I would buy a new car. Can "would" be replaced with "should" in this sentence? No, at least not in colloquial langauge.
- Hi, ac2000 If I had lots of money, I would buy a new car.
- Can "would" be replaced with "should" in this sentence?
- No, at least not in colloquial langauge.
- It's a hypothetical statement.
- You speculate on the situation where you'd have lots of money.
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7 Answers
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Hi,
ac2000If I had lots of money, I would buy a new car.
Can "would" be replaced with "should" in this sentence?
No, at least not in colloquial langauge. It's a hypothetical statement. You speculate on the situation
where you'd have lots of money. When you wish to express this hypothetical idea, you should use a conditional statement. If I had lo
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ac2000The short answer is yes.
Can the "would" be replaced by "should" in this sentence?
The long answer is that you are only likely to hear it done in BrE, although I would guess that most other native speakers would have no problem understanding the intent.
As a native speaker of AmE it strikes me as odd sounding but entirely understandable
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@Regards and @MalRay:
Thanks a lot for your explanations!
I know that "would" would be the better choice in the sentence but am looking for alternatives for certain English exercises. If the students enter e.g. "should" instead of "would" into a text, I have to decide, whether it's completely wrong, or still acceptable.
So if I got it right:
If I had lots of m
Thanks a lot for your explanations!
I know that "would" would be the better choice in the sentence but am looking for alternatives for certain English exercises. If the students enter e.g. "should" instead of "would" into a text, I have to decide, whether it's completely wrong, or still acceptable.
So if I got it right:
If I had lots of m
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Hi,
ac2000So if I got it right:Would is fine in both formal and informal English. You'd better use would. I agree that should is more likely to
If I had lots of money, I should buy a new car. => This can be understood as the same as "... would buy a new car" IF it's in a formal context and/or a statement by BrE speakers.
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Hello Malrey,
Could I ask you 2 sentences with would?
Could you tell me if this is correct way to use conditional?
1 If you drink the grapefruit juice first, you'll find that the orange juice isn't as bitter as it would have been had you not drunk the grapefruit juice first.
2 If he had X it's more likely that he would have done that than thi
Could I ask you 2 sentences with would?
Could you tell me if this is correct way to use conditional?
1 If you drink the grapefruit juice first, you'll find that the orange juice isn't as bitter as it would have been had you not drunk the grapefruit juice first.
2 If he had X it's more likely that he would have done that than thi
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