Hello everyone, I was here on Italki answering a question about a sentence where the modal verb 'would' is used to make a conjecture. The sentence is from Alien Covenant. I remember that. One of the

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Hello everyone, I was here on Italki answering a question about a sentence where the modal verb 'would' is used to make a conjecture. The sentence is from Alien Covenant. I remember that. One of the characters, after hearing something unknown in their communication net says, 'That would be an echo.' It doesn't sound strange to me because that's how we speculate in Spanish mostly. However, I'm trying to find something on the Internet and I can't. Isn't the use of would common in this sense? Thanks a lot folks! Have a good one 🙂 P.s: 'In their communication net' sounds pretty horrible. In their coms system. 🤪

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"That would be an echo," sounds like you're certain it was an echo. And it could even come off as condescending. E.g. - What was that? - That would be an echo. (That was an echo.) If I genuinely didn't know what the noise was I would say something like "That must've been an echo," or "that was probably an echo" "what the hell was that?"

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Intermediate grammar books introduce deduction using "must." For example, English Grammar in Use by Murphy, unit 28. [phone rings] That must be Joe. He said would call this evening. At a more advanced level, deduction using "must," "have to," "will," "would," "may," "might," "should," are introduced. Practical English Usage by Swan covers deduction under each verb. [phone rings] That must be Joe. That has to be Joe. That will be Joe. That would be Joe. That may be Joe. That might be Joe. That should be Joe. That could be Joe.

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If you are making a conjecture, you should use "might" or "could" instead of "would". You could also use "should" to express a little bit more certainty without being absolutely certain.

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I don’t think of it as a conjecture. It suggests a high degree of certainty. And you might hear it when you are volunteering information. That would be an echo. (If you asked me what that sound is/was, I would tell you that that is/was an echo.) If you say it in response to a question, it can sound rather smug. What’s that sound? That would be an echo. (If you were as smart as I am, you would know that that sound is an echo.) I don’t think of it as common.

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