usage of WOULD

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usage of WOULD

by patanjali.purpose » Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:09 am
lunarpower wrote:* 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)
I am bit confused about the usage of WOULD. I fully understand Ron's above quote: "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"".

However, when I try to apply the same logic to an OG question, I get confused:

A baby emerges from the darkness of the womb with a rudimentary sense of vision that would be rated about 20/500; an adult with such vision would be deemed legally blind.

My doubt: Can some of you help me understand HOW the usage of WOULD correct here. I think the senetnce talks about an event in present (general fact), just like "Several experts have predicted that brazil will win the world cup in 2014", but then how the use of WOULD CORRECT here!

Pls help.

Thanks.
Patanjali


(it's Og112-D, Note: I am not intending to question OG's correctness, but just trying to understand the right usage of WOULD esp when the intended meaning of the sentence is in present/future)
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by mundasingh123 » Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:09 am
would is used for future conditional as well as a hypothetical subjunctive .
The example gave by ron illustrates the use of a future conditional and the og sc that you have pasted is an example of hypothetical subjunctive that is used to describe events that are not expected to happen but hypothesized to happen for instance.
Who rates a babys eyesight in practice
Since adults dont have this rudimentary vision . who is going to rate the adults eyesight .There is a very little chance of an adult having such rudimentary eyesight .
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