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Will may be used to refer to a characteristic or persistebt pattern of behaviour or of events: 1 When he has a problem to solve, he will work at it untill he finds an answer. This isn't prediction about a future event, but a statement having general current validity. Would is used to refer to a similar situation in past time: 2 When he had a problem to solbe, he would work at it untill he found an answer. In these sentences, we could use the simple present tense instead of will and the simple past tense (or used to) instead of would, with little change except for a loss of emphasis: 1a When he has a problem to solve, he works at it untill he finds an answer. 2a When he had a problem to solve, he worked ( or used to work ) at it untill he found an answer. If will and would are stressed, it indicates that the speaker is annoyed by a persistent pattern of behaviour: 3 (The one thing I dislike about him is that) he will borrow my things without asking. 4 (The one thing I disliked about him was that) he would borrow my things without asking. In these sentences, we can substitute the simple present or past for will or would only if we express the clauses in brackerts, but such a substitution weakens the force of the original. |