Would

Question

Where would I find him? This sentence could mean two things,  right?1. One is, "where will I probably find him?"2. Another one is, "where do I find him?" (With a less direct and polites asking)

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

tenjing Where would I find him? This sentence could mean two things, right?1. One is, "where will I probably find him?"2. Another one is, "where do I find him?" (With a less direct and polites asking)

Native speakers of English would not see these as two distinctly different meanings. Both of those paraphrases seem to us to have about the same meaning.

In the second case, by the way, we say "Where can I find him?".

Where [will / can] I (probably) find him? all sounds about the same to us, and we can say Where would I find him? as well.

CJ

Tenjing · Answer

The reasons that I am saying there could be two distinctly different meanings are,
A. I am definitely an English learner. I mean I am not perfect in English. If someone asks me a question like: which of the following sentences is correct? I answer, " the first one would be correct". It means to me the first one is probably correct but I am not sure, right?

B. I am asking an English grammar a question. If I ask, "which of the following is correct?", he is going to answer, "the first one would be correct." Even though he is 100% sure the first one is correct. Here 'would' show a less direct or polite statement, right?

So the difference is, In sentence 1, I am not sure that the first one is correct ; whereas, in sentence 2, he is sure that the first one is correct. Am I correct?

CalifJim · Answer

tenjing If someone asks me a question like: which of the following sentences is correct? I answer, " the first one would be correct". It means to me the first one is probably correct but I am not sure, right?

Not really. In that situation, you are not communicating uncertainty. Not exactly anyway. The listener would understand that you meant "It is correct". This is one of those many strange cases where some people sometimes use "would be" instead of "is" or "are" when there is no really good reason to do so. It's almost a question of the speaker's attitude, somewhat pretending to have reached a conclusion after thinking about it for some time. I find these cases almost impossible to explain.

tenjingIf I ask, "which of the following is correct?", he is going to answer, "the first one would be correct." Even though he is 100% sure the first one is correct. Here 'would' show a less direct or polite statement, right?

Less direct, as explained above.

tenjingSo the difference is, In sentence 1, I am not sure that the first one is correct ; whereas, in sentence 2, he is sure that the first one is correct. Am I correct?

Not exactly correct because the first one, as explained above, is not really saying that the speaker is not sure about the answer. In your exploration of "would", you have certainly come up with some difficult examples.

CJ

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