Would be OR will be

Question

0The "International Secretariat" of the Muttahida Quami  Movement (MQM) is based in the suburb of Edgware, and from the first  floor of a grey tower block their leader, Altaf Hussain, addresses huge  audiences in the southern port city.  02br00Mr Hussain says he lives in London because he fears he would be assassinated if he went back to Pakistan.     02br02br00The party mostly comprises - and is supported by - the  families of Muslim Urdu-speaking people known as Mohajirs who migrated  to Pakistan from India around the time of partition.02br00Mr Hussain speaks to his supporters by a conference telephone connected to loud speakers strategically located across Karachi.02br00Thousands of people down tools to listen to his regular  addresses from London, even though he has not been back to the country  since 1992 - and some of his "sermons" have been known to last longer  than four hours. 02br00The MQM's presence in Britain has become more  controversial of late because of weekend violence in Karachi in which  at least 40 people were killed. 02br00------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------02br00The second sentence of the above could be rewrite.02br02br00Mr Hussain says he lives in London because he fears he will be assassinated if he goes/returns to Pakistan.02br01font00The reason to use the 'would be' form is that there is some ambiguity. I mean one can't be 100% sure that he will be executed.02font02br01font00Am I right?02font02br0-

Yankee · Accepted Answer

0 Hi Rex02br
02br
00The word 'would' is basically used in a typical conditional 2 construction here:02br
02br
00"01i00... he 01b00would be02b00 assassinated if he 01b00went02b00 back to Pakistan.02i00"02br
02br
00He apparently does not plan or expect to go back to Pakistan, so the 01u00condition02u00 ("go back to Pakistan") is unreal.02br
00He feels certain about the result (being assassinated) if he did go back.0-

Rex · Answer

0 Yankee02br
00I am very surprised by your answer.02br
00The context and the way of writing tells you that an assassination is certain.02br
00This is difficult for me to digest; however, English is your mother tongue.0-

Yankee · Answer

0 Hi Rex02br
02br
00Let me try my explanation another way:02br
02br
00He thinks it is unlikely that he will be assassinated if01b00 02b00he does 01u00not02u00 go back to Pakistan. 02br
02br
00When you reworded the sentence, you changed it to a conditional 1. Wording it that way would mean that he sees his return to Pakistan as something that is more probable. That means it is more likely that the condition required for the stated result (assassination) will be fulfilled.0-

Would be OR will be

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