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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Still don't get it

Hello everyone, zhouyu.my here.

After asking the usage of "would" on EnglishForward, I went on for more practices on "would". The more practices I have, the more doubts on the usage of "would" I have. I must apologize for asking the almost same question twice on this forum, but I would rather to be called stupid and ask as often as I need to get a clear concept than being smart to have doubts on my mind. I hope you pros on EnglishForward could help clearing out my doubts. I have no problem with "would" in past or conditional usage, but I do have problem with "would" in present usage. I better shows my problems with examples:

1) He is loyal to his country. Even if you give him all the money you have in your big cases, which is almost 100 million dollars, he wouldn't tell you the info you need.
(Many English moderators on online English forums would say change the above sentence to conditional case, change to "Even if you gave him...", then the sentence would be correct. Some might even say change the whole sentence to present tense, use "he won't tell you" instead of "he wouldn't tell you", then the whole sentence would be correct. But I don't think the explanations are not complete. To my understanding, the verb "would" can be used present modal verb as well as past modal verb. When used as present modal verb, on of its meaning is the characteristic of someone or something under a given condition. To me, I would say the above example is grammatically correct, because not matter what cruelties the speaker applies to the captive, it is the characteristic of the captive as a loyal subject to his country that forbids him to sell his own country out to the interrogator. Thus "would" can be used here. I really wish I could get some clarification from you pros on EnglishForward.

2) a) If somebody gives me a million dollars and ask me to blow up my own car, I would do it.
b) If you give those guys 2 thousand dollars to ask them leave this town before noon, they would leave. I would too if you give the money to me.
(We often hear the above sentences in our daily lives. English teachers might say change all the tenses to past tense to make the sentences as second conditional, or keep the present tense but change the verb "would" to "will" to make the above sentences sound vivid. To me, I would say the above examples a) and b) are both correct, because "would" can be used as present modal verbs as characteristic of someone or something. Here is my proof, http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/auxiliary.htm, in the column of "Uses of will and would".

3) You don't know my mom, Jenny. If you have a guest in your house for a day or two and that guest is out to visit, would you open the guest suitcases secretly to check for his private stuff? My mom sure would! That is why you have to double lock your suitcase!
(If the usage of "would" is correct here, then must be 1) and 2)).

4) 10 plus 5 would/will be 15, the answer multiply by 3 would/will be 45 and, could you guys tell me what the final answer would/will be if we change the answer to base 2 instead of base 10?
(I guess both would and will can be used in the above example, I would use "would" rather than "will" because I think "would" means what the out come would be if certain condition met and "will" means what the outcome is going to be if some action is taken.

5) If you add sodium with liquid chlorine into a same flask, the flask would explode.
(Again, conditional is met, characteristic/result of the experiment is shown, which is explosion. I think the above sentence is fit to use. What do you think?)

6) I would suggest you pay him a visit at lunch time, because he would be working like crazy now from 8 to 12 and he doesn't like to be disturb while working.
(Again, showing the characteristic of what a person would normally do in his daily routine.)

I really wish somebody on EnglishForward could clear my doubts on "would". If my lord CJ is still out there, I sure wish he would help me out with this confusion of mine.
  

Top answer

Let me take the liberty to comment a few word regarding your confusion on "would" usage. I must emphasize that this is my personal view of the subject. I believe what confuses you is more than meet the eyes.

  • Let me take the liberty to comment a few word regarding your confusion on "would" usage.
  • I must emphasize that this is my personal view of the subject.
  • I believe what confuses you is more than meet the eyes.
  • When we make a statement with "would", we have to make a quick and rough approximation how real the subject matter is.
  • In other words, we have to clear all the cobwebs with subjunctive.
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5 Answers
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Let me take the liberty to comment a few word regarding your confusion on "would" usage.
I must emphasize that this is my personal view of the subject. I believe what confuses you is more than meet the eyes. When we make a statement with "would", we have to make a quick and rough approximation how real the subject matter is. In other words, we have to clear all the cobwebs with subjunctive. i
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ty for your reply, I think what I wanted to ask is, if the following sentence is valid:

example:
Would you sell your car if somebody gives your a million dollar for it?
(If would can be used in present tense hypothetical situation "somebody gives you a million dollar for it", then the examples in my original question must all be valid.)

I don't know if anyone of you spea
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zhouyu.my here

Sorry for the mistake in the original question, I have marked them in blue:

1) He is loyal to his country. Even if you give him all the money you have in your big cases, which is almost 100 million dollars, he wouldn't tell you the info you need.
(Many English moderators on online English forums would say change the above sentence to conditional case, chan
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I speak fluent English, Cantonese and Mandarin. So I do understand the language difference and grammar conflict encountered by most Chinese learners. But a "pro" I am not.

"would" is "?", where the meaning of will is "??". If we apply the Chinese grammar translation on the "would" and "will"
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Anonymousty for your reply, I think what I wanted to ask is, if the following sentence is valid:

example:

Would you sell your car if somebody gives you a million dollars for it?

This is perfectly intelligible, but, in my view, inferior to "... if somebody gave you ...".

I'm not sure if part of your confusion is tha

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