would vs will likely or will perhaps

[satishchandra]

Although some parents believe that the local all-girls school should begin to admit boys, others claim that girls would participate actively in class only if they had all-girls classes.

A)that girls would participate actively in class only if they had all-girls classes
B)that girls will only participate actively in a class if it is all-girls
C)that girls will only participate actively in an all-girls class
D)that girls would participate actively only in a class that were all-girls
E)that girls in all girls-classes will participate actively in that situation only

[spoiler]OA:C[/spoiler]
Source: Kaplan800

I have issues with OA.
'only' seems to modify 'participate' instead of 'in an all-girls class'
1)Can't we eliminate 'C' on the basis of above issue?
2)I chose 'A'. Use of 'would' seems to be correct; 'they' seem to refer back to 'girls'

3)Can we use 'would' instead of 'will likely' or to convey the future uncertainity?

I know we can use 'would' in conditional statements such as if Emma ate pizza, she would fall sick.
4)Can we use 'would' in any other instances other than above mentioned conditional statements?
Please answer my 4 questions.

[shankar.ashwin]

This sentence does not have an hypothetical situation as in (if Emma ate pizza, she would fall sick).

SO there is no necessity to shift to the conditional 'would' here -> Eliminate A and D (A also uses had)

B - in a class if it is all-girls (is much wordier than saying all-girls class)

E - is incredibly wordy.


For general usage of 'will' vs 'would' look at this post

https://www.beatthegmat.com/will-vs-would-t11972.html

[HSPA]

it is a 'claim' so it havent happened in past => would is not required.

will suits the expectation of what can happen if we have an all-girls class -> concentration.

[lunarpower]

in response to the original post:

1/ about the placement of "only":
you do have somewhat of a point here. strictly speaking, "only" should be placed as close as possible to what it is modifying.
here's a hypothetical situation: consider a striking worker, who refuses to work unless his/her pay is increased. then, in the strictest sense, this person should place "only" as follows:
i will work only if i am paid a better wage.

however, it's very common at all levels of the english language to allow a little bit of flexibility in the placement of "only", provided that the sentence doesn't become ambiguous as a result. in other words, the following sentence would be considered acceptable by just about everyone:
i will only work if i am paid a better wage.
this sentence still isn't really ambiguous, unless you completely ignore common sense in interpreting it. in other words, it's grammatically possible to interpret the sentence as "if i am paid a better wage, i will do absolutely nothing in my life except work" -- but that's a ridiculous interpretation, so the sentence isn't rejected for being ambiguous.

the real question is whether gmac accepts this kind of usage. i really don't know; however, if the answer choices put "only" in different places, then you should probably think about adhering to the most logical placement.

so, yes, i think that's a fault in this problem: the answer choices move around the word "only", but, unfortunately, the ostensibly correct answer places it farther from what it is actually talking about.

in response to all three of the other questions, "would" is not acceptable here, because the verb is describing what people think will actually happen in the future. for more on the use of "would", read this:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/demographers ... tml#216712

[satishchandra]

i will only work if i am paid a better wage.
this sentence still isn't really ambiguous, unless you completely ignore common sense in interpreting it. in other words, it's grammatically possible to interpret the sentence as "if i am paid a better wage, i will do absolutely nothing in my life except work" -- but that's a ridiculous interpretation, so the sentence isn't rejected for being ambiguous.

The example and explanation are just amazing. Thank you Ron.

for more on the use of "would", read this:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/demographers ... tml#216712

I have gone through this post. I think those two special cases in which 'would' can be used are explicitly mentioned in MGMAT book. Lets take up this example.

Conversation between guest and host in one house.

Host: Would you like to have Tea?
Guest: No, I would like to have coffee.

We see 'would' in both sentences. I think we hear these sentences many times in our lives. These type of sentences, i think, do not fall in two special categories you mentioned about 'would' in the link
Are these sentences grammatically wrong? or am i asking too silly question.

And Ron, wondering if you could also explain or provide a link for may vs might? When and when not to use?

[satishchandra]

One of the questions I raised in my first post still remains- Whether 'will likely' can replace 'would' vice versa in any case?

"would" has 2 main uses:

1 * it's the past tense of "will". i have no idea what the actual name of this tense is, but you can think of it as "a tense that WAS the future, at that time in the past."
for instance:
Jim knows that his son will make the game-winning shot.
this sentence translates into the past tense as
Jim knew that his son would make the game-winning shot.

2 * it's a CONDITIONAL - i.e., it describes what would occur in some alternate situation that is not actually the case.
for instance:
if i were rich, i would buy my own island.

Does hypothetical 'would' fall in these two cases? or is it different?
Is hypothetical 'would' equivalent to 'will likely'?

[lunarpower]

I have gone through this post. I think those two special cases in which 'would' can be used are explicitly mentioned in MGMAT book. Lets take up this example.

Conversation between guest and host in one house.

Host: Would you like to have Tea?
Guest: No, I would like to have coffee.

ah, now, that is a completely different issue -- now you're touching on the issue of politeness / socially acceptable speech.
in social situations, many technically inappropriate tenses/phrasings/wordings are used in order to be less direct or blunt. if the same sort of politesse were used in formal, objective writing, then it would just be bad writing.

And Ron, wondering if you could also explain or provide a link for may vs might? When and when not to use?

the relationship between "may" and "might" is pretty much the same as that between "can" and "could", or between "will" and "would".
i.e., the normal present-tense form is may. you would use might in either of two circumstances:
(1) as the past-tense form of "may";
(2) in a hypothetical, contrary-to-reality type of situation.

i think i may go to the carnival --> i'm thinking of doing this right now.
i thought that i might go to the carnival --> the carnival is now over, and/or my opportunity to attend it has passed.
if i had free time, i might go to the carnival --> the situation is hypothetical (i.e., i don't actually have the free time), but, if it were true, then i would consider going to the carnival.