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”".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)
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)
