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sumithshah
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 Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:57 am Post subject: Will VS Would |
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Hi
Im having problems with this Q
If current trends continue, by the year 2010 carbon emissions in the United States will soar to a level more than one-third higher than were those in 1990, according to official projections.
A. will soar to a level more than one-third higher than were those
B. will soar to a level more than one-third higher than that
C. would soar to a level more than one-third higher than is was
D. would soar to a level more than one-third higher than those
E. would soar to a level more than one-third higher than they were
The OA is B - but I picked E.
Quoting Stacy from a different post on this site,
| Quote: | "In the subjunctive, we describe situations contrary to reality, we don't simply say what WILL happen in the future.
Such sentences are always in the form:
"If X were to happen, then Y would happen."
The terms can also be reversed: |
http://www.beatthegmat.com/will-vs-would-t11972.html
How come the rule stated by Stacy is not applied here?
Last edited by sumithshah on Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:17 am; edited 1 time in total |
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just_do_it
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| Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:36 am Post subject: |
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The original sentence is in present tense as indicated by the verb "continues". Hence the sentence construction should be
IF X, (then) WILL + base verb.
Had the sentence been in past tense, "would" have been more appropriate.
IF X, (then) WOULD/COULD + base verb.
makes sense? |
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sumithshah
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| Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:53 am Post subject: |
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So if we had
10 years ago Bob said that if insurance rates fall, people would stop buying insurance
Is this correct ( just pay attention to the past / present usage of will / would - I made this sentence up, so it would have other stuff wrong with it |
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just_do_it
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| Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:31 am Post subject: |
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sumithshah,
what you should be looking out for is the verb tense in the IF clause. So your example statement was something like this:
If rates fell, people would stop buying....
Fell is in past tense, so "would" is appropriate.
If rates fall, people will stop buying...
Fall is in present tense, so "will stop" is appropriate.
hope the concept is clear now.
cheers. |
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sumithshah
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| Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:35 am Post subject: |
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ah! thanks 
ALso, if it was "if rates had fallen" then what would be the usage? |
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just_do_it
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| Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:51 am Post subject: |
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If rates had fallen, people would have stopped buying
In case of past perfect tense, the THEN clause will be like this:
WOULD/COULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE.
cheers. |
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California4jx
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| Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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| just_do_it wrote: |
If rates fell, people would stop buying....
Fell is in past tense, so "would" is appropriate.
If rates fall, people will stop buying...
Fall is in present tense, so "will stop" is appropriate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
If rates had fallen , people would have stopped buying
In case of past perfect tense, the THEN clause will be like this:
WOULD/COULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE
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Good discussion .. Thanks ! |
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Stacey Koprince
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:03 am Post subject: |
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A poster sent me the below PM:
| Quote: | When I was going through the SC questions in the forum, I came across these two questions which tests the subjunctive. So far any subjunctive sentences, I use would and was sticking to it. These two questions has OA which has "will" instead of "would". I am not sure where these questions came from. But want to double check with you as I don't want to confuce my understanding.
Below are the links for both the questions. I would highly appreciate, if you could provide your suggestions for these questions. |
Also, the text quoted by the previous poster is actually from Stuart, not me - he gives a very good reply, so I want to make sure he gets credit for it!
Take a look at my reply to your first link, in which I discuss subjunctive in a bit more detail: http://www.beatthegmat.com/will-vs-would-t11972.html
Go take a look at what I just posted and see if you can use that to understand why you would not want to use subjunctive in this particular sentence - let me know if you still need help!
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California4jx
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| Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Stacey Koprince wrote: | A poster sent me the below PM:
| Quote: | When I was going through the SC questions in the forum, I came across these two questions which tests the subjunctive. So far any subjunctive sentences, I use would and was sticking to it. These two questions has OA which has "will" instead of "would". I am not sure where these questions came from. But want to double check with you as I don't want to confuce my understanding.
Below are the links for both the questions. I would highly appreciate, if you could provide your suggestions for these questions. |
Also, the text quoted by the previous poster is actually from Stuart, not me - he gives a very good reply, so I want to make sure he gets credit for it!
Take a look at my reply to your first link, in which I discuss subjunctive in a bit more detail: http://www.beatthegmat.com/will-vs-would-t11972.html
Go take a look at what I just posted and see if you can use that to understand why you would not want to use subjunctive in this particular sentence - let me know if you still need help! |
Excellent, Stacey. Your thread is even more comprehensive on 'will' vs 'would' -
Do we have similar kind of concept behind 'may' or 'might' or is it just a difference of prenset/past tense. |
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