By Modals, Conditionals

Hi, i have some questions on the subject of present unreal conditionals and hope you would be able to help me. 1. I would play chess more if I didn't listen to pop music so much. If the sentence had the word 'had' in the 'if' clause, then I would have considered it a second...

No. This is not the reason. We borrow past modals into present time to give them a conditional flavor (conditional, not subjunctive) -- to express something more tentative than the present forms suggest. The idea is that it looks like a question you would be able to ask someone, with the...

BTW, re the can't example, this is more natural: We can't finish it by the end of next week. Firm. We couldn't finish it by the end of next week, even if we made some effort. Doubt/conditional. But could is rarely used for the future, some people could feel confused.

Hi Newguest I have the following to share with you. may / might Similarly, we can use the modal auxiliaries may or might to say that there is a chance that something is true or may happen. May and might are used to talk about present or future events. They can normally be used...

It seems both Marius and Magic have Swan's book.I just look at it to find out the model verb 'would'.However, this is a tall order for me. I am not a native English speaker.I mean there are many ways one can play with the modal verb 'would'.Marius could do it easily because English is his native...

Are they functionally the same ...?Yes. Sort of. would alone makes the past time reference in 2. would have makes it a (hypothetical) past in conditionals like 3. Some people would consider it a hypothetical future of the past, however. CJ

Hi, I think you can use 'would' to make a past time reference as well as to the present and future time references. 1. Expressing present time politeness: Would you mind moving to the left, I have to sit with my baby? Of course, It's my pleasure. 2. Making a past time reference: When I...

Neeraj Jain wrote:Hi Maris, If I have just one sentence: I could play tennis well. can it be used to refer to the present tense?Strictly speaking, only to conditional future (or past, of course). See my examples above. Some see that as kind of a present.

Anonymous wrote:the first one is the one marked "1" with a modal 'would' that expresses an event in the past, encompassing an event before an event also; and the second marking point is the one marked "2" and with the past perfect tense 'had lined up'.There is no switch in tense there. They are...

Yes, I would agree that all are type 1. In #3 and #4, the "will" is replaced by a different modal verb; in #2, the "will" is replaced by modal phrase ("might decide to"). In all three, the effect is of greater tentativeness in the main clause. MrP