Learning English

Dan
Hi guys! Dan from BBC Learning English here with this week's Learner Question. Find out what it is after this.

OK! This week's learner question comes from Pablo in the Canary Islands, who writes: can you explain to me the use of would in these sentences: I invited her to my house, but she wouldn't come. And, that's typical of you - you would go to the pub without leaving me a note!

Well, Pablo, in your first example, wouldn’t means refused to. I invited her to my house but she wouldn’t come, or, I invited her to my house but she refused to come. Although, if we use would in this way, it’s a little softer in tone and sounds more natural than refused to. Another example would be I could see that she was crying but she wouldn't tell me what was wrong.

Would can indicate that someone insists on doing something, and this can be actively or as a typical form of behaviour, like a habit. We can use would like this when we’re being critical of someone in terms of their actions or behaviour. And note, that it has to carry a strong word stress to be used in this way. So your example was, that's typical of you - you would go to the pub without leaving me a note!

Finally, won’t and will can be used to show refusal or insistence in the same way, but in the present or future. For example, he won’t eat his vegetables because he doesn’t like them or if you will eat so much, it’s no wonder you’re going to get fat. It’s worth noting that this is one of the few times that you can use will in an if clause in a conditional.

I hope that answers your question Pablo. Thank you very much for writing to us. If anybody else out there has a question for Learners’ Questions, you can email us on: learning.english@bbc.co.uk. Please remember to put Learners’ Questions in the subject box and your name and the place that you’re writing from. I’m sorry, guys we can’t answer every single email because we just get too many, but we do read every single one. And for more information go to our website: bbclearningenglish.com. That’s it for this week’s Learners’ Questions. I’ll see you next time. Bye!