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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
The usages of "would/ will"
The protagonist, Philip, got the appointment as assistant house-physician at St. Luke's.
But he came to know he made pregnant his middle-aged friend's eldest daughter Sally.
He pictured to himself the long evenings he would spend with Sally in the cosy sitting-room, the blinds undrawn so that they could watch the sea; he with his books, while she bent over her work, and the shaded lamp made her sweet face more fair. They would talk over the growing child, and when she turned her eyes to his there was in them the light of love. And the fishermen and their wives who were his patients would come to feel a great affection for them, and they in their turn would enter into the pleasures and pains of those simple lives. But his thoughts returned to the son who would be his and hers.
[Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham]
I can't be certain that "would" is the very "would," or the past form "will." here.
So I was wondering what "would" means here.
Thank you in advance for your help.
But he came to know he made pregnant his middle-aged friend's eldest daughter Sally.
He pictured to himself the long evenings he would spend with Sally in the cosy sitting-room, the blinds undrawn so that they could watch the sea; he with his books, while she bent over her work, and the shaded lamp made her sweet face more fair. They would talk over the growing child, and when she turned her eyes to his there was in them the light of love. And the fishermen and their wives who were his patients would come to feel a great affection for them, and they in their turn would enter into the pleasures and pains of those simple lives. But his thoughts returned to the son who would be his and hers.
[Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham]
I can't be certain that "would" is the very "would," or the past form "will." here.
So I was wondering what "would" means here.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
park sang joon So I was wondering what "would" means here. It is the same 'would' throughout the passage (there are 5 of them)—the past of 'will'.
- park sang joon So I was wondering what "would" means here.
- It is the same 'would' throughout the passage (there are 5 of them)—the past of 'will'.
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6 Answers
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park sang joonSo I was wondering what "would" means here.It is the same 'would' throughout the passage (there are 5 of them)—the past of 'will'.
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park sang joonI was wondering what "would" means here.The clue is in "pictured to himself". The sentences with "would" are a series of imagined future events as the child she is pregnant with grows up.
CJ
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Thank you, Mr. Micawber, for your so very helpful answer. 
Thank you, CalifJim, for another so very kind answer from you.
Thank you, CalifJim, for another so very kind answer from you.
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park sang joonI'd like to know what "as the child she is pregnant with grows up" modifies in the sentence.I think you can "pick your poison" on this one.
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If my question is so stupid, please pardon me. 
But I'd like to know if the adverbial clause "as the child she is preg
But I'd like to know if the adverbial clause "as the child she is preg
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park sang joon I'd like to know if the adverbial clause "as the child she is pregnant with grows up" can modify a noun equivalent.Yes, it can, though not indiscriminately. The modified noun would have to be "a second-order noun", i.e., a noun that references an action (event), not "a first-order noun", i.e., a noun that references an inanimate object
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