lunarpower wrote:i received a private message regarding this thread. the post to which i was directed, however, doesn't seem to contain any questions, and it's also not a post written by the author of the private message.
therefore, i think the best i can do here is simply to offer a few words.
if you see a SPLIT between "will" and "would", then it's most likely that we are dealing with a tense issue.
* if we are actually talking about an event that has not occurred yet -- i.e., an event that is genuinely in the future -- then we should usually use "will".
* if we are talking about an event that was still a future event at the time described in the sentence (but is no longer a future event), then we should use "would".
a couple of examples:
several experts have predicted that brazil will win the world cup in 2014. (as of this writing it is not 2014 yet, so the future tense is appropriate)
last year, several experts predicted that brazil would win this year's world cup. (this year's world cup is now over, so it's inappropriate to use the future tense. therefore, we use "would", which is a tense that we use to describe something that was once a future event, but is no longer)
in ancient times, the mayans predicted that the world will end in the year that corresponds to A.D. 2012 on the modern gregorian calendar. (2012 has not happened yet, so we still use the future tense for the prediction -- even though the prediction was made a really, really long time ago)
Hi Ron,
Can you please explain the will/would usage when used in If..Then construct?
I had trouble dealing with this problem. As I understand, in a IF..Then Construct,
Would is used when "If" part describes a situation unlikely to occur.
Will is used when "if" part describes a situation likely to occur.
In this problem, I think it is unlikely that the current trends continue.. Shouldnt "would" be used???
Please correct me..
Thank you!!