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The modal
auxiliary would (negative would not,
which is
often contracted to wouldn't) has several uses. One of them
is
in making a kind of "artificial past" for will in indirect
(reported)
speech. A
second use is in making polite requests.
A third
is in the common expression would like.
Another way to use would is for
present / future
time in
unreal conditional ("if") sentences.
Conditional sentences
of this kind refer to situations
that are hypothetical, impossible,
contrary-to-fact,
or unreal. In them, would is used in place
of will.
Examples:
If Julia had enough money,
she would buy a car.
(hypothetical: Julia doesn't
really have enough money,
so she won't buy a car.)
If Julia had
a car, she wouldn't need to take the bus to work.
(hypothetical: Actually, Julia
doesn't have a car, so she
needs / will need to
take the bus to work.)
If I were
Julia, I would borrow the money to buy a car.
(hypothetical: Actually, Julia
isn't going to borrow the money
to buy a car.
Because she isn't me, her ideas are different
from
mine about borrowing money.)
If Julia borrowed
the money to buy a car, she would
need
to
make a car payment every month.
(hypothetical: Actually, Julia
doesn't need to make a car
payment every month
because she hasn't borrowed / didn't
borrow the
money to buy a car.)
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Special
Note:
In the unreal conditional sentences
above, could and / or
might
may also be possible:
If Julia had enough money,
she could / might buy
a car.
If Julia had a car, she might not need to take the bus to work.
If I were Julia, I might borrow
the money to buy a car.
If Julia borrowed the money
to buy a car, she might need
to make a car payment every month.
(In the first sentence, "she
___ buy" may refer to both
ability and possibility,
so both could and might are
possible.
In the second, third, and fourth sentences,
"she ___ (not)
buy" refers only to possibility,
so forms of might are
appropriate, but
could is not.)
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