{"id":1518,"date":"2015-04-08T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:46:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:46:11","slug":"general-uses-of-the-word-would","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/","title":{"rendered":"General Uses of the Word \u201cWould\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Magoosh has already done <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/review-of-conditionals\/\">two<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/using-would-could-and-should-in-conditionals\/\">posts<\/a> on the use of \u201cwould\u201d in conditionals. In this post, we\u2019ll look at other uses of \u201cwould,\u201d outside of conditional statements. \u201cWould\u201d is used in a lot of different ways, both on the TOEFL and in general English. Below, enjoy a complete grammar guide to using \u201cwould.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>A substitute for \u201cused to\u201d: <\/em><\/strong><em>\u201cUsed to\u201d is a past tense expression that describes a habit that someone once had. In each of the two examples below, the first sentence uses \u201cused to.\u201d The second sentence in each example uses \u201cwould,\u201d but otherwise the sentence is unchanged. Because \u201cwould\u201d can replace \u201cused to,\u201d the meaning of the sentence doesn\u2019t change.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong>Examples:<br \/>\n<\/strong>Before I had a child I <em>used to<\/em> stay up late at night. &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;Before I had a child, I<strong> would<\/strong> stay up late at night.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">When I lived in Hollywood, I <em>used to<\/em> take photos of the famous Hollywood sign and send them to my friends. &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; When I lived in Hollywood, I <strong>would<\/strong> take photos of the famous Hollywood sign and send them to my friends.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Commenting on an action that just occurred, describing it as typical:<\/em><\/strong><em> This use of \u201cwould\u201d has a negative connotation. It\u2019s used to describe an event that is common and expected, but still disappointing. Have you ever felt like bad things always happen to you? Or felt like a friend or relative always does something that disappoints you? For these kinds of frustrating situations, you use \u201cwould.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong>Examples:<br \/>\n<\/strong>It <strong>would<\/strong> rain during my weekend vacation at the beach. I always have such bad luck!<br \/>\nHe <strong>would<\/strong> be 20 minutes late for the final exam. He is never on time for anything important.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Expressing a preference: <\/em><\/strong><em>This use of \u201cwould\u201d helps people know what you want or don\u2019t want. It can be used politely. As you will see from the third example below, it can also be used rudely.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong>Examples:<br \/>\n<\/strong>I <strong>would<\/strong> rather not buy a house. I <strong>would<\/strong> like to rent an apartment instead.<br \/>\nI <strong>would<\/strong> prefer not to drive to school. It\u2019s a beautiful day, so I <strong>would <\/strong>enjoy walking there instead.<br \/>\nI <strong>would <\/strong>sooner starve than eat his terrible cooking.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Asking about a preference:<\/em><\/strong><em> In a question, \u201cwould\u201d can also be used to ask someone else about what they want or prefer.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong>Examples:<br \/>\n<\/strong>How <strong>would <\/strong>you like to take a vacation in Southern France?<br \/>\nWhat <strong>would<\/strong> you like to drink, coffee or tea?<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Gentle expression of disbelief about a possibility:<\/em><\/strong><em> This is similar to the <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-could\/\">use of \u201ccould\u201d<\/a> to politely disagree with a stated fact. The difference is that in this use of \u201cwould,\u201d you are disagreeing with a statement of possibility, not a statement of fact. If someone says something may be possible, but you think they are wrong, use \u201cwould\u201d to politely disagree with them.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong>Examples:<br \/>\n<\/strong>He <strong>would<\/strong>n\u2019t do anything violent. He is a very gentle person.<br \/>\nYou <strong>would<\/strong>n\u2019t enjoy working at a factory; the work is very boring.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Politely requesting something:<\/em><\/strong><em> You can ask a question with \u201cwould\u201d to politely request something. This is similar to <A href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-could\/\">requesting with a \u201ccould\u201d sentence<\/a><\/em><em>. However, when you use \u201cwould,\u201d the tone is more polite and more formal than with \u201ccould.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong>Example:<br \/>\nWould <\/strong>you reach up to the top shelf and get that book for me?<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Politely stating desire:<\/em><\/strong><em> Here you are not necessarily requesting anything, but you are using \u201cwould\u201d to tell someone that you want something.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><strong>Examples:<br \/>\n<\/strong>I <strong>would<\/strong> like do that.<br \/>\nI <strong>would <\/strong>love to come on the trip if you have room for one more person.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Magoosh has already done two posts on the use of \u201cwould\u201d in conditionals. In this post, we\u2019ll look at other uses of \u201cwould,\u201d outside of conditional statements. \u201cWould\u201d is used in a lot of different ways, both on the TOEFL and in general English. Below, enjoy a complete grammar guide to using \u201cwould.\u201d A substitute [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13603],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>General Uses of the Word \u201cWould\u201d - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"General Uses of the Word \u201cWould\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Magoosh has already done two posts on the use of \u201cwould\u201d in conditionals. In this post, we\u2019ll look at other uses of \u201cwould,\u201d outside of conditional statements. \u201cWould\u201d is used in a lot of different ways, both on the TOEFL and in general English. Below, enjoy a complete grammar guide to using \u201cwould.\u201d A substitute [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-08T16:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-10T21:46:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Recine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Recine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/\",\"name\":\"General Uses of the Word \u201cWould\u201d - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-08T16:00:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"General Uses of the Word \u201cWould\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"description\":\"Online TOEFL Preparation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\",\"name\":\"David Recine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/de262e64bb4e3e488753d8c58ff3cc70\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Recine\"},\"description\":\"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. 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In this post, we\u2019ll look at other uses of \u201cwould,\u201d outside of conditional statements. \u201cWould\u201d is used in a lot of different ways, both on the TOEFL and in general English. Below, enjoy a complete grammar guide to using \u201cwould.\u201d A substitute [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/","og_site_name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","article_published_time":"2015-04-08T16:00:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-10T21:46:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"David Recine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_site":"@MagooshTOEFL","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Recine","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/","name":"General Uses of the Word \u201cWould\u201d - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-08T16:00:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/general-uses-of-the-word-would\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"General Uses of the Word \u201cWould\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/","name":"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test","description":"Online TOEFL Preparation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768","name":"David Recine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/de262e64bb4e3e488753d8c58ff3cc70","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Recine"},"description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C50&amp;q=Recine+magoosh&amp;btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}