Would/Will/could/can

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Ruttonjee

#309316 Mon, 01 Jan 07 03:53 AM

Hi there,

How about the following sentences?

1. Our school could /should introduce punishment if some students download pirated music in the school's computer room.

2. Our school could/ should organise a campaign to educate students not to download pirated music on the internet.

Could or should ?

Simon

Ruttonjee

Joined on Sat, Dec 16 2006

Full Member (143)

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Ruttonjee

#309317 Mon, 01 Jan 07 04:07 AM

Hi there

Sorry I have another question. Can I use 'I will suggest' and 'I will recommend' instead of 'I would suggest' and I would recommend'? What is the difference between 'will' and 'would' here? Can I use 'shall'?

Simon

Ruttonjee

Difference between

Grammar Geek

#309478 Mon, 01 Jan 07 07:13 PM

Ruttonjee wrote:

1. Our school could /should introduce punishment if some students download pirated music in the school's computer room.

2. Our school could/ should organise a campaign to educate students not to download pirated music on the internet.

Could or should ?

Simon

We could - here is one possibility.

We should - I recommend we do this.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,990)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Grammar Geek

#309480 Mon, 01 Jan 07 07:20 PM

Ruttonjee wrote:

Can I use 'I will suggest' and 'I will recommend' instead of 'I would suggest' and I would recommend'? What is the difference between 'will' and 'would' here? Can I use 'shall'?

Simon

First, assuming you mean in the future:

At our next meeting, I will suggest - I am going to do this; my plan is to make this suggestion

At our next meeting, I would suggest - I advise you to make this suggestion at our next meeting.

But for present, I would suggest is just a polite way of saying "I suggest."

Simon, can you do a search on "modal verbs"? There is so much to understand about them, and finding it good summary in one place might help you.