Use of modal verb "would"

Question

Hi. Is this use of the modal verb "would" correct?She asked him a question, but he wouldn't answer.

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

It's correct. The meaning is usually: he didn't want to answer.

CB

Anonymous · Answer

Hi. Thank you. If we were asked to assign some kind of classification like "depicting a routine in the past" - as in "He would go walking for at least thirty minutes when he was in his early twenties" - what do you think we should assign? I think the type of modal use depicted in the example sentence I introduced earlier (in the first post) is quite common in terms of its usage.

The example sentence I introduced earlier in my first post:

She asked him a question, but he wouldn't answer.

Also, I think this doesn't sound correct. What do you think? Thank you for your anticipated help.

She asked him a question, and he would answer.

Cool Breeze · Answer

Anonymous"depicting a routine in the past"

I have always been more interested in usage than terminology. However, I see nothing wrong with the above term. "Habitual action in the past" is another term I have seen somewhere.

AnonymousShe asked him a question, and he would answer.

This sounds wrong to my ear as well. It seems that only the negative usage (wouldn't) is possible in this sense. English is very much a language of fixed expressions and often the slightest deviation, however grammatical, may result in unnaturalness and even apparent incorrectness. What I mean is that a structure can be perfectly grammatical but no one uses it!

This state of being confined to fixed phrases for nearly everything imaginable is largely due to the uninflected structure of the language. It often isn't possible to add inflections to words, to make changes in the middle of words, and even the word order is extremely rigid. I can think of no reason why would isn't used in affirmative clauses in this sense, though. Perhaps someone else can?

CB

English 1b3 · Answer

Cool Breeze
I can think of no reason why would isn't used in affirmative clauses in this sense, though. Perhaps someone else can?

Cool BreezeShe asked him a question, and he would answer

I think it is OK, just uncommon. Such a sentence is used when the author wishes to express something that is about to happen, without moving the point of view to that period of time:

She asked him a question. And then he answered.

Here, the author takes us from one action in the past to the next, whereas in the former example, the point of view is somewhere in-between the two actions. It states what is going to happen without taking the reader this far into the future.

Use of modal verb "would"

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