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Voynich Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Wouldn't vs didn't

"Then why wouldn't his shower door open?" and "Then why didn't his shower door open?"

Could you tell me whether any differences exist between them? Thanks in advance!
  

Top answer

"wouldn't" has a nuance of somebody trying to open the door and being unable. "didn't" can be used more generally.

— GPY

  • "wouldn't" has a nuance of somebody trying to open the door and being unable.
  • "didn't" can be used more generally.
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9 Answers
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"wouldn't" has a nuance of somebody trying to open the door and being unable. "didn't" can be used more generally.
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So "Then why wouldn't the tree collapse?" goes for the same? Does it have a nuance of somebody trying to collapse the tree?
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voynichSo "Then why wouldn't the tree collapse?" goes for the same? Does it have a nuance of somebody trying to collapse the tree?
The idea of someone "collapsing a tree" is odd. It may imply that the tree was expected to collapse of its own accord, but possibly as a result of someone's actions.

It may also be talking about a hypothetical or future sit
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voynichThen why wouldn't the tree collapse?
"tree" and "collapse" don't go together. You'd do better to use "building" instead of "tree".

The scenario might be that an entire abandoned building was wired with explosives in preparation for demolishing it. Then a switch is flipped to activate the explosives, but nothing happens. At this point you can
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To my ear, the first of these expresses more puzzlement that the building did not collapse as expected.


Could you tell me why does this sort of difference occur?
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voynichCould you tell me why does this sort of difference occurs?
No, I'm afraid not. It's just a property of the word "would". In this case, the way I'm reading it, the building was supposed to collapse but it didn't. "Why wouldn't ...?" shows that the speaker was expecting something to happen and it didn't.
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"Why wouldn't ...?" shows that the speaker was expecting something to happen and it didn't.
"He said that he was gonna come here but he didn't. Why wouldn't/didn't he come?"
Then in the above sentence, "wouldn't" sounds more natural to your ears due to his statement than "he was gonna come"?
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voynich"He said that he was gonna come here but he didn't. Why wouldn't/didn't he come?"Then in the above sentence, "wouldn't" sounds more natural to your ears due to his statement than "he was gonna come"?
"wouldn't" with people is different from "wouldn't" with inanimate objects because people have a will or volition. "Why wouldn't he come?" usually has an i
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voynich"He said that he was gonna come here but he didn't. Why wouldn't/didn't he come?"Then in the above sentence, "wouldn't" sounds more natural to your ears due to his statement than "he was gonna come"?
To me they are both natural enough, but they are asking slightly different things.

Why didn't he come? is just asking for the circumstances
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