When two modal verbs are thought to function the same

Question

Hi. I think one of the main fuctions of the modal verb "would" is its use in conditionals and I also think the conditional sentence is a common form of use for the modal verb "could" too.

Do you think if those two modals verbs are used in a sentence in a similar fashion (or used alike, as it seems), the likelihood is that both of them are used condtionally? I think "would" is but "could" is not in the sentence below.

eg,

He could/would be a perfect man for my daughter.

I think the "could" doesn't possess/have any sense of conditionality, whereas the "would" be conditional in nature. Do you think I am correct?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

I don't understand your terms "conditionality" and "sense of conditionality".

Certainly the two have different meanings. I would change a to the, by the way, but that's not crucial:

He would be the perfect man ...
He could be the perfect man ...

I'm tempted to explain this as follows: would be is to is as could be is to may be. (would : is :: could : may be)

is gives us an outright assertion: He is the perfect man ...
would adds that "sense of conditionality" to is, perhaps, as you call it: He would be the perfect man ...

may be gives us only a possibility: He may be the perfect man ...
could adds that "sense of conditionality" to may, perhaps, or perhaps something else: He could be the perfect man ...

Supposing we take He may be ... as It is possible that he is ...,
then He could be ... is nearly It is possible that he would be ....

But the fact that this is a statement of possibility rather than an outright assertion seems to neutralize the effect of the "sense of conditionality", I suppose.

Whether that exact same "sense of conditionality" is present in both is difficult to answer, in great part because I don't quite understand what it is.

CJ

When two modal verbs are thought to function the same

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