Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Will vs Would


The Sunday Times article (22 February 2009) on the right (click for a larger version) featured tourists who were visiting Singapore despite the current economic doom and gloom, and asked among other things whether they would visit Singapore again.
There’s an interesting contrast in the use of modals: the Sunday Times uses will in its question, but two respondents (native speakers of English from Scotland and the USA) pointedly use would in reply.
Using will for a hypothetical event is somewhat unusual — would is the better choice here.

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