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conditional ( would and should )

 
 
Reply Tue 19 Oct, 2004 01:40 pm
Hi,

I know that conditional sentences formed with would and should , shall and will ( I guess ) , but is there something called past conditional tense ?.If we consider should and would in present conditional tense , this means that the following sentences are the same ,

I would work .

I should work.

but , is this true?
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FreeDuck
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Oct, 2004 02:10 pm
Depends on the context, but taking them at face value the difference is this. In the present tense, would implies willingness. Ex. I would work if I had a job. Or, I would work for you, but you don't pay well enough. Should implies responsibility. Ex. I should work, but I'm tired. Or, I should have gone to the grocery store when I had the chance, now it's too late.

Granted, I'm no English major, and I speak American English.
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travelbug
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Oct, 2004 02:32 pm
I'd say the same thing applies in real, sorry, British English.
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joefromchicago
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Oct, 2004 02:44 pm
Re: conditional ( would and should )
navigator wrote:
Hi,

I know that conditional sentences formed with would and should , shall and will ( I guess ) , but is there something called past conditional tense ?.

Yes.
present conditional: I would work
past conditional: I would have worked

navigator wrote:
If we consider should and would in present conditional tense , this means that the following sentences are the same ,

I would work .

I should work.

but , is this true?

No. "Should" implies an obligation of some sort. Informally, one can substitute "should" for "would," but that wouldn't be technically correct. "Would" is a true conditional: it implies a possibility or a hypothetical situation.
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navigator
 
  1  
Reply Tue 19 Oct, 2004 08:53 pm
but isn't I would have worked perfect conditional tense
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joefromchicago
 
  1  
Reply Wed 20 Oct, 2004 08:22 am
navigator wrote:
but isn't I would have worked perfect conditional tense

Modal verbs (or, in the case of "would," modal auxiliary verbs), unlike regular verbs, are not fully conjugable in English. Thus, a regular verb can be conjugated in all tenses:
    present: I work past: I worked present perfect: I have worked past perfect: I had worked
whereas a modal verb cannot:
    present: I would work past: I would have worked present perfect: none (although "I would have worked" might be used) past perfect: none
For more on forming tenses in conditional statements, see here.
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navigator
 
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Reply Thu 21 Oct, 2004 03:36 am
Thanks alot Joe. Smile
0 Replies
 
 

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