Understanding would

Question

A. I think he would lend you the money. Could it mean 'he will probably lend you the money "?

A: I am thinking about organizing a party. What do you think?
B: I think that would be great. Does it mean that will probably be great or what?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

AnonymousA. I think he would lend you the money. Could it mean 'he will probably lend you the money "?

Yes.

AnonymousA: I am thinking about organizing a party. What do you think?B: I think that would be great. Does it mean that will probably be great or what?

B thinks it would definitely be great IF A organized a party.

Tenjing · Answer

That is what I thought. Use 'will' if the action is real.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousA. I think he would lend you the money. Could it mean 'he will probably lend you the money "?

Yes. Basically, it's saying

I'm imagining a situation in which you ask him to lend you money. If that happened, the imagined result would be that he lends you the money.

"probably" is another way of expressing the idea that you don't know for sure, but you can imagine a situation in which that happens.

AnonymousI think that would be great.

Again, very often the idea of "would" has to do with imagined events and actions.

If you really did organize a party (as you are imagining you might do), I would greatly approve of such a project.

"would" often expresses the imagined result of some other imagined situation.
________________

Imagined act: A organizes a party. (It's only imagined because A says only "I think (maybe)", not "I will (definitely).)
Imagined result: B has a very approving opinion (expressed with "would").
I think that's great expresses approval of something already done.
I think that would be great expresses imagined approval of something that may or may not be done later.

CJ

Understanding would

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