Saturday, December 16, 2017

meaning - Correct usage of will and would


Consider the following sentence



It will/would rain tomorrow.




I understand "would" usually means something that is really improbable.


So "it would happen" means it might happen but it is very unlikely; while "it will happen" means it is going to happen


But what if I want to say



It will not happen?



Because the meaning of "it will not happen" represents something that is unlikely or, worse still, not going to happen, shouldn't it be more accurate to say "it would not happen"?


However, to contravene the aforesaid suggestion - if I am confident that the thing is not going to happen, should I use "will" to indicate the definite nature of my statement?


To further complicate the issue, what if I want to say




I think you will not be able to do it.



or



I think you would not be able to do it.



Which one is more accurate/correct, given that "I think" already conveys a sense of "less than definite" and "will/would not be able to" conveys the same sense as "unlikely"?




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