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You use would when you are referring to the result or effect of a possible situation. Ordinarily it would be fun to be taken to fabulous restaurants It would be wrong to suggest that police officers were not annoyed by acts of indecency It would cost very much more for the four of us to go from Italy

{f} helping verb for use in a question, request or expression of desire (used to make the statement more polite)

When would precedes a verb, it questions the absoluteness of the verb and makes the verb conditional

would WEAK STRONG Would is a modal verb. It is used with the base form of a verb. In spoken English, would is often abbreviated to 'd

politeness You use would, usually in questions, when you are politely asking someone to do something. Would you come in here a moment, please? Oh dear, there's the doorbell. See who it is, would you, darling. = could

You use would to say that someone was willing to do something. You use would not to indicate that they refused to do something. They said they would give the police their full cooperation She indicated that she would help her husband He wouldn't say where he had picked up the information

Indicating in action or state that is conditional on another

You use would to talk about something which happened regularly in the past but which no longer happens. Sunday mornings my mother would bake. I'd stand by the fridge and help = used to

Commonly used as an auxiliary verb, either in the past tense or in the conditional or optative present

You use would not to indicate that something did not happen, often in spite of a lot of effort. He kicked, pushed, and hurled his shoulder at the door. It wouldn't open He kept trying to start the car and the battery got flatter and flatter, until it wouldn't turn the engine at all

politeness You use would, usually in questions with `like', when you are making a polite offer or invitation. Would you like a drink? Perhaps you would like to pay a visit to London

If you say that someone would have liked or preferred something, you mean that they wanted to do it or have it but were unable to. I would have liked a life in politics She would have liked to ask questions, but he had moved on to another topic

You use would, or would have with a past participle, to indicate that you are assuming or guessing that something is true, because you have good reasons for thinking it. You wouldn't know him His fans would already be familiar with Caroline It was half seven; her mother would be annoyed because he was so late

Used to express a polite request

You use would have with a past participle when you are saying what was likely to have happened by a particular time. Within ten weeks of the introduction, 34 million people would have been reached by our television commercials

Indicating a possible (but not definite) future action or state

Used to indicate a wish or desire (usually contrary to facts)

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