Would

Question

Hi there,I have been watching a drama, Blindspot Season 1 Episode 9, it is about law and order, on www.Hulu.com and below dialogues have been take from there.  I need to know why" would" is used in the following sentences? Please, explain to me. If it is possible, can you write the if clauses?SITUATION 1A: Stop, please! I do not know where he is!B: He is your brother and of course you do.A: I do not know.I do not know.B: Tighten it up. (Speaker A is getting punished)A: I would tell you!I am just guessing. It is implicit conditional  but I do not what should be the if clause.SITUATION 2A: So the entire letter probably means the hacked WITSEC list.B: That would be very, very bad.A: YesImplicit conditional SITUATION 3A: Tattoos sort of ruin the whole undercover thing so they covered them with makeup. I feel ridiculous in the dress.B: That is not the word. I would use.Implicit conditional SITUATION 4A: So it took a little doing, but we were able to recover a bunch of deleted David's posts.It looks like they have been using the site for a couple of years.B: That would explain how it got onto Jane's body.Implied conditional Kind Regards

GPY · Accepted Answer

1. "I would tell you (if I knew where he was)."

2. "That would be very, very bad (if something happened / has happened)", but exactly what the "something" is is impossible to say without knowing more about the story. For example, "That would be very, very bad (if hackers have got hold of that information)".

3. Something like "That is not the word I would use (if I had to describe it)". Also has a volitional element.

4. Seems to mean "(If they have been using the site for a couple of years), that would explain how it got into Jane's body". It is not clear how or whether this makes sense without knowing more about the story.

MFarooq · Answer

Hi Sir,

Thank you for your help. I'd like to know. Why do not native speaker say the if clauses when they use these conditional sentences? And I have been observing a lot that the native speakers use 2nd conditional with or without if clause. Is this right?

Thank you

GPY · Answer

There is often no need to say the "if" clause if it is obvious from the context. The desirability of expressing the "if" clause might also depend on the strength of an implied condition. In (1), for example, the condition is strongly implied: "I would tell you if I knew" seems very natural, and would indeed be the norm. When a condition is only weakly implied, it may seem too much to explicitly state it.

"would" is a complicated word. It can potentially suggest other things, such as the speaker's belief or volition, at the same time as possibly suggesting a condition. The exact shade of meaning in a given situation can be hard to pin down and explain, and it is not always clear cut whether, or to what extent, a conditional meaning is intended.

There are, of course, other uses of "would" which are completely unrelated to conditional events; for example, the "would" of past habit, as in "When I was ill, he would often come to visit me".

MFarooq · Answer

Hi Sir,

Thank you for your clarification. Can you let me know when we can use "would" as a substitute for the past tense with examples? And can I know the resources where I can read the use of " would and could" in much more details. Actually, these two words are bothering me a lot or any advise for me please?

Thank you

CalifJim · Answer

MFarooqthese two words are bothering me a lot

Yes, we've noticed. You ask some difficult questions about them.

'could' probably won't make sense to you until you understand 'would' first because 'could' often contains the meaning of 'would' plus the meaning of 'be able'.

Steve could help you if you needed it. = Steve would be able to help you if you needed it.

Note that even if it is not completely clear what the if-clause is in an implied conditional, most of the time that you have a would-clause without an if-clause, you can rely on the general idea that a would-clause describes an imagined result. Here's an example from your quotations:

That is not the word I would use. (I can't imagine myself using that word to describe you in a dress.)

CJ

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