Mark
Will vs Would here Dear teachers Could you please tell me if "will" is better or "would" is in this context: Person A: I am going to Sydney tomorrow. I just bought the tickets! Person B: That WOULD/WILL be a terrible idea! Please also tell me if it should be "bought tickets" or "bought the tickets"?
Jan 26, 2017 7:23 AM
Answers · 5
2
I mostly agree with Lance. "Would" is the correct answer.. :D Just wanted to say that I think that Person B means: "That would be a terrible *thing to do* if you were to do it." Native English speakers often conflate the *idea* of doing something with actually doing it, and this is a great example of that. Clearly, there can't be anything very terrible about an idea. Person B means that what would be terrible would be putting the idea into practice (if Person A actually were to do so). Person B is speaking in the subjunctive mood, is my analysis. To answer your second question, either "bought tickets" (which is short for "bought some tickets") or "bought the tickets" would work well here. The second variant is more appropriate if you've just been talking about some specific tickets and you want to keep talking about "the tickets" you've just been talking about. The first, if you're talking about any old tickets, or if it's obvious which tickets you mean. In this case they both work fine. :)
January 26, 2017
1
Hi Mark, This is my opinion. Person A will be going to Sydney tomorrow. However, the decision to go (idea) was already made. So we use "would" to describe about the past. If we use "will", we are saying that the idea of going to Sydney will turn out terrible in the future but may not be terrible now. We wonder how Person B can tell the future. Hope this helps. Cheers, Lance
January 26, 2017
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