Would- The Modal Verb

Grammar is a very important part of any language. To understand the language well, to speak, and to learn, we need to understand the grammar of that language. Our today’s topic is “would” and to understand “would” and its uses, we first need to understand what type of word is “would”. Would is a modal verb. Let us now understand what is a verb and what are the types of verbs. 

A verb is an expression of an act, event, or mode of being that is inflected in various languages for agreement with the subject and for tense, voice, mood, or aspect, and which typically has a full descriptive meaning and characterizing quality but is nearly devoid of these when used as an auxiliary or linking verb. There are 11 types of verbs. Let us understand them in detail.

Types of Verbs

There are 11 types of verbs. They are:

1. Action verbs

2. Stative verbs

3. Intransitive verbs

4. Transitive verbs

5. Linking verbs

6. Auxiliary verbs

7. Modal verbs

8. Irregular verbs

9. Regular verbs

10. Phrasal verbs

11. Infinitives

Action Verbs 

Action verbs, as the name implies, refer to activities. Jumping, hitting, and singing are examples of physical acts that use our bodies or objects, while thinking, considering, and memorizing are examples of mental actions that employ our minds. 

Example- 

• I work in a school.

• The children are running.

• We listen to music.

Stative Verbs

Stative verbs, in contrast to action verbs, talk about the conditions or states of being rather than the things themselves. For the most part, stative verbs are used to talk about things like attributes, states of being, views, beliefs, and even feelings. Stative verbs don't refer to acts when they're used in a sentence. It's critical to understand that depending on their context, verbs might be action verbs or stative verbs. In continuous verb tenses, stative verbs are far less common.

Example - 

• I love my mom.

• My brother needs books.

• This house has a beautiful garden.

Intransitive Verbs 

If a verb isn't used with a direct object, it's classified as intransitive. Direct objects can only be nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases. You can't use adjectives or adverbs as direct objects of prepositional phrases or prepositional phrases. Intransitive verbs can be used as both action and stative verbs.

Example - 

• The birds fly.

• The baby slept while the mom worked.

• The terrified monkey hid in the tree after he saw the gigantic hungry snake.

Transitive Verbs 

In a sentence, a transitive verb is one that is followed by a direct object. The direct object is the noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that is being modified by the sentence's subject. Because both action and stative verbs can have direct objects, they can be used as transitive verbs. 

Example - 

• Vishal ate a pizza.

• He bought a beautiful dress.

• My brother hates bitter gourds.

Linking Verbs  

Linking verbs are a distinct class of stative verbs whose names give away what they do. Verbs that relate a subject to its complement are known as linking verbs. The subject complement describes or identifies the sentence or clause's subject. Intransitive verbs, such as linking verbs, do not take a direct object. 

Example - 

• Shreya is a great singer.

• This painting looks beautiful.

• The sun began to appear from behind the clouds.

Auxiliary Verbs 

Auxiliary verbs, or helping verbs, work with other verbs to alter the meaning of a sentence. A helping verb works in combination with a main verb to achieve a variety of objectives. These include changing the verb's tense or changing the mood of a sentence.

Example - 

• Cheetahs can run incredibly fast.

• My grandma is getting slow in her old age. 

• Singer Sonu Nigam has performed in concerts all over the world.

Modal Verbs

This subcategory of helping verbs is used to convey the mood of a statement. Modal verbs can represent a variety of ideas, including ability, necessity, possibility, or permission, depending on how they're used. 

Example - 

• I would go to the park if I wasn’t busy working.

• We must be careful while nurturing plants.

• Once you finish your work, you may go out for a walk.

Irregular Verbs 

An irregular verb is one that does not end in -ed, -d, or uses the –t variation in the past tense or past participle form. The spelling of these verbs frequently changes substantially or does not change at all. 

Examples - 

• Shrishti knew the truth.

• Ram ate kadhi chawal for his lunch.

• The bird flew away.

Regular verbs 

If the past tense and past participle finish in -ed, -d, or if the verb is a -t variant verb, then it is considered a normal verb. Look, for example, is a regular verb because it appears in both its past tense and past participle forms. Regular verbs' spelling can vary somewhat from time to time. 

Example - 

• The boy jumped from the bed.

• I tried to finish the work on time.

• I slept well last night.

Phrasal Verb 

Phrasal verbs are verb-preposition-adverb combinations that have a different meaning than the individual words that make them up. 

Example - 

• The owner has closed down his store.

• We should never show off.

• I have asked for help.

Infinitives 

The infinitives are actually not verbs but look like verbs as they are derived from verbs. An infinitive of a verb is actually identical to the base form of the verb. 

Example - 

• I wish to play guitar like a pro one day.

• I don’t know whom to ask about it.

• The font is too small to see.

What is the Structure of Would?

The structure of would is:

Subject + Would + Main Verb

Use of Would

Let us understand how to use would. Would is an auxiliary verb, specifically a modal auxiliary verb. The primary use of would is to:

• Discuss the past

• Discuss the future in the past to express the conditional mood

Would is also used for other purposes, such as:

expressing desire, making polite requests and questions, expressing one's opinion or hope, wishing and regretting. Example of using would - When I was young, I would play every evening.

Now that we have understood how to use would let us understand other uses of would. Other uses of would are as follows:

• Would for the past - I thought it would rain, so I bought my umbrella.

• Using would as a kind of past tense of will - She said that she would buy some groceries.

• Using would not talk about past refusals - I wanted to go to the party but my mom would not agree. 

• Using would when talking about habitual past behaviour - My father would come home from work at 7 pm every day.

• Would for the future in the past - In Delhi, she met the man that she would one day be friends with.

• Would for Conditionals - If he lost his job he would have no money.

• Would for Desire - Would you like to have some tea?

• Would questions and polite requests - Would you do this for me please?

• Would for Opinion - I would have to agree.

• Would for Wish - I wish I would stay there.

• Would for Expectation - That would be Priya calling.

• Would for Uncertainty - He would seem to be getting better.

• Would for derogatory comment - They would say that, wouldn't they?

• Would that for regret - Would that it was true! (This type of use is very rare. It is generally used in poetics.)