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Eipjoo Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary
would
“Was he murdered?”
“Might have been, for all that. But like I said, nobody knows for sure. They had what they call an ink-quest at the library – it’s the same thing as a poet’s mortem, Alf says. Dr. Darby got up and told them the little lad was hanged, and that’s all he could righty say. Mad Meg claimed the Devil took ‘im, but you know what she’s like. They called up the Inglebys, and that German what drives their tractor – Dieter, ‘is name is – as well as Sally Straw. Dumb as Dorothy’s donkey, the lot of ‘em. Including the police.”
The police? Of course!
The police would certainly have investigated Robin Ingleby’s death, and if my guess was right, my old friend Inspector Hewitt would have had a hand in it.
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What’s the meaning of ‘would’ in the example?
Would you explain what differences are there if the example has ‘would,’ ‘might,’ ‘should,’ respectively?
“Might have been, for all that. But like I said, nobody knows for sure. They had what they call an ink-quest at the library – it’s the same thing as a poet’s mortem, Alf says. Dr. Darby got up and told them the little lad was hanged, and that’s all he could righty say. Mad Meg claimed the Devil took ‘im, but you know what she’s like. They called up the Inglebys, and that German what drives their tractor – Dieter, ‘is name is – as well as Sally Straw. Dumb as Dorothy’s donkey, the lot of ‘em. Including the police.”
The police? Of course!
The police would certainly have investigated Robin Ingleby’s death, and if my guess was right, my old friend Inspector Hewitt would have had a hand in it.
*******
What’s the meaning of ‘would’ in the example?
Would you explain what differences are there if the example has ‘would,’ ‘might,’ ‘should,’ respectively?
Top answer
It's a shortened form of the conditional sentence If the police had been there they would have investigated... [ the 3rd level of conditionals ]. They weren't there, and they didn't investigate.
- It's a shortened form of the conditional sentence If the police had been there they would have investigated...
- [ the 3rd level of conditionals ].
- They weren't there, and they didn't investigate.
- The same for Hewitt.
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1 Answers
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It's a shortened form of the conditional sentence If the police had been there they would have investigated... [ the 3rd level of conditionals ]. They weren't there, and they didn't investigate. The same for Hewitt.
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