Gratuitous use of "would" phrasings?

nomdeboardie

Another thread involving the questionable use of "would" here, in a different context...

Something I've noticed recently among Irish people being interviewed or recounting experiences etc. in the media, is the use of "would [iverb infinitive]" or "would have [verb past tense]" in place of a simple past tense. At least I think that describes the situation - I don't have a great grasp of descriptie grammar.

E.g. describing habitual actions: "I would eat breakfast every morinng at six" instead of "I ate [/used to eat] breakfast every morinng at six". Is there an implicit conditional in the first - if the speaker (a zombie) had fresh brains available?

An example for a single event: Instead of "I left the house earlier than usual, at seven", "I would have left the house earlier than usual, at seven" (in order feast on the cranial matter of unsuspecting commuters?)

Present tense also, come to think of it: "I would be familiar with" instead of "I am familiar with..."

Is this something new or has it always been around, and only come to my attention now for some reason? Is Is it an Irish thing? Do these expressions convey different nuances than the seemingly more straightforward equivalents? It sort of annoys me, to be honest :pac:

(I may edit this post this as my fuzzy thoughts on this issue become clearer...)

Evan DietrichSmith

nomdeboardie wrote: »

Another thread involving the questionable use of "would" here, in a different context...

Something I've noticed recently among Irish people being interviewed or recounting experiences etc. in the media, is the use of "would [iverb infinitive]" or "would have [verb past tense]" in place of a simple past tense. At least I think that describes the situation - I don't have a great grasp of descriptie grammar.

E.g. describing habitual actions: "I would eat breakfast every morinng at six" instead of "I ate [/used to eat] breakfast every morinng at six". Is there an implicit conditional in the first - if the speaker (a zombie) had fresh brains available?

An example for a single event: Instead of "I left the house earlier than usual, at seven", "I would have left the house earlier than usual, at seven" (in order feast on the cranial matter of unsuspecting commuters?)

Present tense also, come to think of it: "I would be familiar with" instead of "I am familiar with..."

Is this something new or has it always been around, and only come to my attention now for some reason? Is Is it an Irish thing? Do these expressions convey different nuances than the seemingly more straightforward equivalents? It sort of annoys me, to be honest :pac:

(I may edit this post this as my fuzzy thoughts on this issue become clearer...)

I would say this is not new,and would not see any major 'fault' wth it.
'

First example 'I would eat .... Or 'I'd eat' breakfast might be more used in relatively informal conversation,whereas the ' I ate...or I used to eat (which I don't like at all) might be more appropriate and more common in written description.

That's my 2c worth.

Wouldn't think its a biggie though, lots of bigger bad boys out there

On the 'I would be familiar vs I am familiar'

Would suggest the former implies some familiarity but not complete, whereas the latter implies much more confidence.

Just my instincts on that scenario,nothing in grammatical theory.

nomdeboardie

Evan DietrichSmith wrote: »

... On the 'I would be familiar vs I am familiar'

Would suggest the former implies some familiarity but not complete, whereas the latter implies much more confidence. ...

Yes, I think in general it gives a probably intentional bit of vagueness to such statements.

Noticed another the other day with what's probably the same 'softening' function:
"I would consider myself to be pretty competitive"

Evan DietrichSmith wrote: »

I would say ...

Wouldn't think ...

:pac: I would probably use these phrasings here too.

tac foley

'would' implies some kind of condition. 'IF so and so, then I WOULD have...' - 'wouldn't it be good if..... Or a request for something to be done - 'Would you please carry that for me...?'

There is also the use of an act that is habitually carried out - 'every morning we would have breakfast at nine o'clock on the dot'.

Lots of different uses for 'would', as you would see, if you read as much as I do....

tac

odds_on

Would has about 7 main different uses of would:

1. As the past of "will" - He hopes she will come to the party. He hoped she would come to the party.

2. Indirect speach - He says she will come to the party. He said she would come to the party.

3. Future in the past - There was a chance that if she came to the party, John would ask her to marry him.

4. Polite form of request: Consider, "Will you sing a song, please?" and "Would you would you sing a song, please?"

5. A past willingness and refusals - She would organize a party but would not go to it herself. She wouldn't get out of bed again, this morning.

6. Past habits and past habitual actions- He would go to parties only occasionally last year. He would get up at five o'clock every Saturday morning, to go fishing.

7. The conditional, as an auxiliary - If I were you, I would not go to that party.

nomdeboardie

odds_on wrote: »

Would has about 7 main different uses of would:

1. As the past of "will" - He hopes she will come to the party. He hoped she would come to the party.

2. Indirect speach - He says she will come to the party. He said she would come to the party.

3. Future in the past - There was a chance that if she came to the party, John would ask her to marry him.

4. Polite form of request: Consider, "Will you sing a song, please?" and "Would you would you sing a song, please?"

5. A past willingness and refusals - She would organize a party but would not go to it herself. She wouldn't get out of bed again, this morning.

6. Past habits and past habitual actions- He would go to parties only occasionally last year. He would get up at five o'clock every Saturday morning, to go fishing.

7. The conditional, as an auxiliary - If I were you, I would not go to that party.

Thanks. Yes, it's certainly complex (+ I've had a look at the link from Merry Prankster in the 'should/would be obliged' thread). (I think #3 above is a conditional?)

Anyway, I should probably row back a bit on the "habitual actions" use - I'm officially not really irritated about that now :pac:. I'll should have collected more/better examples of the other type of use (not among those in the list, I think) that bugs me .

Mearings

"I suppose I would have voted Fianna Fáil in the '07 election."

"So what stopped you?"

nomdeboardie

Heard today:

“His father would have been from the remote Bluestack Mountains”

...If only his folks hadn't been city slickers


And a few days ago:

“I wouldn’t be a vegetarian”

...If you had a craving for human flesh?