Would have balked at?

Question

1. Dany shrugged him off . “Viserys would have bought as many Unsullied as he had the coin for. But you once said I was like Rhaegar . . ." (Game of Thrones)Context: Viserys was Dany's brother and he was dead before he could buy the Unsullied.2. The Old Bear might at least have listened, though he would have balked at the notion of letting thirty or forty thousand wildlings loose on the Seven Kingdoms. But Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt would dismiss the notion out of hand. (Game of Thrones)Context: The Old Bear was already dead before this thinking.Hi, dear teachers. Do the two "would have"s express people's characteristic behaviors or their personalities?Or they are implied third conditionals?Thank you.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

zuotengdazuoOr they are implied third conditionals?

Yes.

CalifJim · Answer

zuotengdazuoViserys would have bought as many Unsullied as he had the coin for.

Implied conditional, i.e., conditional without 'if', but paraphrasable with 'if'.
If he had had the coin/money for it, he would have bought all that that money could buy.

zuotengdazuohe would have balked at the notion of letting thirty or forty thousand wildlings loose on the Seven Kingdoms.

Another implied conditional. If he had been presented with the prospect of letting thirty or forty thousand wildlings loose on the Seven Kingdoms, he would have balked at it.

zuotengdazuoDo the two "would have"s express people's characteristic behaviors or their personalities? Or they are implied third conditionals?

You make it sound as if it can't be both. Just because you have a third conditional doesn't mean it can't be a comment on a characteristic behavior (in the past). You can sometimes find out from context whether a statement is about a one-time action or about a habitual frame of mind, i.e., a characteristic. I don't see anything in these examples that indicates whether or not the actions were considered characteristic or not within the context of the whole story, so I would stop my analysis at the point of saying these are implied third conditional. To go on and claim that characteristic behaviors are involved might be to claim too much.

CJ

Would have balked at?

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