Remoteness or distance with "would"

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LouiseBB
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Remoteness or distance with "would"

Post by LouiseBB »

Can you explain what is meant by "the uses of would express some kind of distance or remoteness"?

Would I be correct to say that it means that the use of the modal verb "would" in some cases makes a statement less direct/less certain than if there is no use of "would"?

for example:

I would imagine you will buy a new car. vs. I imagine you will buy a new car.
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Alan
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Re: Remoteness or distance with "would"

Post by Alan »

'Remoteness' here should be interpreted as 'tentativeness'. 'Would' makes the statement meeker/less confident.
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