2 uses of 'would' - Learners' Questions

Dan Hi guys! Dan from BBC Learning English here

with this week's Learner Question. Find out what it is after this.

OK! This week's learner question comes from Pablo in the Canary Islands, who writes: can

you explain to me the use of 'would' in these sentences: I invited her to my house, but

she wouldn't come. And, that's typical of you - you would go to the pub without leaving

me a note!

Well, Pablo, in your first example, 'wouldn’t' means refused to. I invited her to my house

but she wouldn’t come, or, I invited her to my house but she refused to come. Although,

if we use 'would' in this way, it’s a little softer in tone and sounds more natural than

refused to. Another example would be: I could see that she was crying but she wouldn't tell

me what was wrong.

'Would' can indicate that someone insists on doing something, and this can be actively

or as a typical form of behaviour, like a habit. We can use 'would' like this when we’re

being critical of someone in terms of their actions or behaviour. And note, that it has

to carry a strong word stress to be used in this way. So your example was, that's typical

of you - you would go to the pub without leaving me a note!

Finally, 'won’t' and 'will' can be used to show refusal or insistence in the same way, but

in the present or future. For example, he won’t eat his vegetables because he doesn’t

like them or if you will eat so much, it’s no wonder you’re going to get fat. It’s

worth noting that this is one of the few times that you can use 'will' in an if clause in a

conditional.

I hope that answers your question Pablo. Thank you very much for writing to us. If anybody

else out there has a question for Learners’ Questions, you can email us on: [email protected].

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our website: bbclearningenglish.com. That’s it for this week’s Learners’ Questions.

I’ll see you next time. Bye!