Wouldn't

Question

Hi,'... . Researchers also want o study the combination of fluids that would not mix well on Earth. ...'Why does the writer use 'would not' instead of 'won't'?Thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

He probably didn't want to give an informal tone to his writing.

Nsfs2 · Answer

CliveHe probably didn't want to give an informal tone to his writing.

Would using 'won't' suggest informality in similar contexts? Could you provide an example, please?

Clive · Answer

Won't, and the other contractions, should be avoided in formal writing. It's as simple as that.

CalifJim · Answer

nsfs2Hi,'... . Researchers also want o study the combination of fluids that would not mix well on Earth. ...'Why does the writer use 'would not' instead of 'won't'?Thanks.

Why does he use 'would not' instead of "wouldn't"?
Why does he use "would not" instead of "will not"?

It's impossible to say in the latter case. As written, it suggests that this was written on the moon. Certain fluids would not mix well (failed to mix well) when they were on the earth, but now they're on the moon and they want to see if they can make those fluids mix better there.

CJ

Nsfs2 · Answer

CalifJimWhy does he use "would not" instead of "will not"?

Thanks CJ. That's what I meant. I meant the tense and not the contracted form. I'm sorry I didn't form my question clearly, which gave the impression I was asking about the full form or the contracted form.
CJ, I got the feeling, and maybe I was mistaken, from your explanation that one can use 'would' or ' wouldn't' freely instead of 'will' or ' won't' and it is up to the readers, as it seems, to try to elicit the meaning. For students of EFL, like myself, it would be a dilemma to try to guess the writers intention; we try to stick to grammatical rules that teach the sequence of tenses. For example, is the case of 'will' and 'would'.
Would you use 'wouldn't' if you were in the writers shoes?Why? How would you advise EFL students to deal with this issue?

Thanks, CJ, again.

CalifJim · Answer

I was slightly off in my guess. Your quote was about experiments on the space station, not on the moon. I found this in that context on Google:

Also, because fluids can be combined nearly completely in space regardless of their relative weights, they are interested in investigating the combination of fluids that would not mix well on Earth.

It seems to be told from the point of view of someone already on the space station itself, looking back at what "used to happen" on Earth. Or maybe it's an editing error or the result of a copy and paste that was not thoroughly checked.

It seems to me that "will not", or better yet "do not", would fit just as well as "would not" in that sentence.

nsfs2How would you advise EFL students to deal with this issue?

By checking with someone else, as you have done.

CJ

By the way, the only source I found with the wording you used (Researchers also want ...) had a title in Arabic script and was signaled by my site adviser as a very dangerous site to visit. I hope you don't end up with computer viruses if you downloaded it from there.

Nsfs2 · Answer

Can't thank you enough!<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/61.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/61.gif' alt='Emotion: heart'/>

Wouldn't

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions