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Wowenglish Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Would
There was once a small boy who always had an excuse whenever he did something wrong.
Nothing was ever his fault. If he spilt some milk, his mother would scold him for being careless.
He would say, "It wasn't my fault,mom. The milk jumped out of my glass."
I wonder if there is any difference in the meaning between "would(1)" and "would(2)".
1. If he spilt some milk, his mother would(1) scold him for being careless.
2. On summer evenings they would(2) sit out in the garden.
Nothing was ever his fault. If he spilt some milk, his mother would scold him for being careless.
He would say, "It wasn't my fault,mom. The milk jumped out of my glass."
I wonder if there is any difference in the meaning between "would(1)" and "would(2)".
1. If he spilt some milk, his mother would(1) scold him for being careless.
2. On summer evenings they would(2) sit out in the garden.
Top answer
In my opinion "would" in both sentences was used to indicate repeated action (or possibly habit in the second instance)
- In my opinion "would" in both sentences was used to indicate repeated action (or possibly habit in the second instance)
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2 Answers
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In my opinion "would" in both sentences was used to indicate repeated action (or possibly habit in the second instance)
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Repeated action is implied.
[I dislike this use of 'would' and encourage only the most advanced of students to use 'would' in anything other than conditional sentences, as it can be confusing. In your sentence If he spilt some milk, his mother would(1) scold him for being careless. the use could be either one. So it would seem that there is inconsistency in use of tenses here.
[I dislike this use of 'would' and encourage only the most advanced of students to use 'would' in anything other than conditional sentences, as it can be confusing. In your sentence If he spilt some milk, his mother would(1) scold him for being careless. the use could be either one. So it would seem that there is inconsistency in use of tenses here.
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