How to Use Would in English English Modal Verbs

hi I’m Ike welcome to Oxford online

English in this lesson you can learn

about the modal verb would in English

you’d like to learn more about wood and

what it means if I asked you to tell me

all the meanings and uses of wood right

now would you be able to like all Myrdal

verbs would can have many different

meanings these different meanings aren’t

connected to each other

which can make it difficult to work out

what wood means in different sentences

all situations in this class you’ll see

all the use of wood and the meanings

let’s start with the most important use

of wood

imagine your friend asks you what would

you do if you’re attacked by a shark why

does your friend use wood in this

question and how should you answer

probably your answer would also include

wood maybe something like I probably try

to hit it on the nose or poke it in the

eye or something like that

maybe I just tried to swim away so any

ideas why do you use wood here it’s

because getting attacked by a shark is

very unlikely we use wood when we talk

about things which are either very

unlikely or totally impossible for

example what would you do if you could

read people’s thoughts reading people’s

thoughts is impossible so we use wood

it’s a question about an imaginary

situation I would help you if I could I

can’t help you so I use wood to show

that that’s impossible this is like

saying I can’t help you she would be

here but she has too much work at the

moment she’s not here although she would

be if she didn’t have so much work in

all of these cases when you use wood

you’re talking about situation which

isn’t true and which you think will

never happen that’s what it means when

you use was like this you’re saying I

think this thing never happened if I won

the lottery I would you say wood because

you don’t think you’ll ever win the

lottery you can use wood have plus a

past participle to talk about the past

in the same way for example what would

you have said if she’d seen you she

didn’t see you so you didn’t say

anything to her I’m asking you a

question about an imaginary situation

I’m saying imagine a different version

of the past where she did see you

I wouldn’t have come if I’d known it was

going to go on so late I didn’t know it

was going to go on so late so I did come

but now I regret it

imagine you’re at an event and you have

to get up early tomorrow the event goes

on much later than you expected so you

say this he wouldn’t have been much help

anyway he wasn’t there so he couldn’t

help but even if he had been there he

wouldn’t have been able to help us this

is the most common way to use wood and

probably the most complicated however

wood has many other uses let’s look

if you want to ask someone

do something for you using wood in your

request can make it sound more polite

for example can you tell me the time

will you get me a sandwich I want

something to eat all of these requests

are quite informal that can be fine

depending on the situation but sometimes

you want to be a bit more formal so that

you sound polite wood can be useful here

look at the sentences can you see how to

use wood okay let’s check your ideas

would you mind telling me at a time

would you get me a sandwich I’d like

something to eat

using would you mind plus ing is a very

polite way to make a request you can

also use wood in place of will in a

request this makes it a little more

formal and polite finally using wood

like instead of want is better unless

you’re in a very informal situation to

be clear these are the only ways to use

wood there are other possible answers

for example you could say tell me the

time would you would you mind getting me

a sandwich these are possible the first

answers I gave you are the most obvious

also let’s get something clear there’s

no connection between these different

uses of wood we use wood to make a

polite request like you’re doing here

there’s no connection with the idea of

imaginary or in real situations that you

saw in part 1 ok let’s move on and look

at another way to use wood

imagine you have a friend who’s always

late for everything you’re meeting your

friend tomorrow and you’re really

annoyed that you always have to wait you

tell your friend to be on time and she

replies I’ll be on time I promise I’ll

get an earlier bus which will get to the

center by three o’clock

now imagine that is a few days later and

you want to tell me what your friend

said to you how would you do it you were

to say something like my friend promised

you’d be on time she said she’d get an

earlier bus which she said would arrive

by three o’clock of course when she

turned up it was nearly full do you see

what’s happening here every time your

friend says will you say would when

you’re talking about what your friend

said English learners often say

something like would is the past tense

of will that’s true sometimes but not

generally for example for the uses of

wood you saw in parts 1 & 2 it’s not

helpful or accurate to say that wood is

the past tense of will however a

reported speech is a good way to think

about it there’s one more case where

wood has a past meaning connected to

will do you know what I’m talking about

both will and wood can have the meaning

of refusing to do something for example

I’ll ask him but he won’t help me he’ll

refuse to help me in the future I asked

him but he wouldn’t help me he refused

to help me in the past in this case you

can see wood as the past version he will

you can use this to talk about people

they wouldn’t give me my money back

even though I had the receipt they

refused to give me my money back you can

also use it to talk about things my car

wouldn’t start this morning my car

refused to start ok cars can’t literally

refuse to start but we often talk about

machines computers and things like that

in this way here’s a similar example

when he try to show me the fire wouldn’t

open so here in part 3 reported speech

the meanings of will and wood are

connected when you’re thinking about

will and wood it’s important to remember

that sometimes the meanings are

connected and sometimes they’re

completely different we’ll come back to

this point at the end of the lesson

there’s one more way to use wood that we

need to look at

you can use wood to talk about things

in the past but don’t do now for example

my mum would walk us to school when we

were little when I was training for the

marathon I would go running for two

hours every day after work it was

exhausting what is similar to used to

here but it’s not exactly the same when

you use wood like this you can only talk

about repeated actions in the past

you can’t talk about States and

situations like you can with use too so

you can’t say I would live in a small

flat with my friends when I was a

student that’s not correct because live

is a state not an action however this

sentence is okay I would go out with my

friends most evenings when I was a

student this is fine because go out is

an action so now you’ve seen all the

different ways you can use wood in

English let’s review what you’ve learned

today

what has five common use of in English

it can be used to talk about imaginary

or real situations to make polite

requests in reported speech as the past

version of will to mean refused to and

to talk about repeated actions in the

past when you are learning about wood

one of the most important things to get

clear in your head is the relationship

between will and would sometimes will

and wood are connected if you’re using

reported speech or using wood to mean

refuse to then would behave like a past

version of will however in the other

uses of wood there’s no connection

between will and wood in fact in the

most common use of wood talking about

imaginary or in real situations will

would have almost opposite meanings for

example if someone says I’ll help you

with will you can expect them to help

you in reality

if someone says I would help you it

would then you shouldn’t expect them to

help you will and would have completely

different meanings here it’s also good

to remember the different use of wood

aren’t connected to each other at all

the meaning of wood depends completely

on the sentence and the situation

finally wood can refer to different

times depending on how you’re using wood

for example I would come tomorrow but

I’ve already made other plans

would you pass me that blue bag I asked

them to change my ticket but they

wouldn’t do anything these three

sentences are about the future the

present and the past respectively so you

can’t say what time wood refers to by

itself it can refer to any time

depending on the meaning and the context

most importantly what doesn’t

necessarily have a past meaning

sometimes it does but it can also refer

to the present or future what’s the best

way to improve your understanding of

this topic practice of course check out

the full version of this free lesson on

our website Oxford online English comm

where there’s a quiz to check how well

you understood these ideas thanks a lot

for watching and I will see you next

time