[riverkid]

MikeNewYork: The modal "would" is sometimes used for a past habitual/repeated action. That is how it is being used in your paragraph. For example:

Except that this was not how it was used in the initial questioner's paragraph, Mike. From the context it's clear that the action was not habitual.


"Would" has many uses and meanings in English. I'll leave you with the citation from American Heritage Dictionary: (the parts I have marked in red are relevant to your original question)
[*]Used to express repeated or habitual action in the past: Every morning we would walk in the garden.[/list]
Dictionaries still describe modals as having tense but they, [like some others] simply can't provide any examples to prove that it's true.

In the AHD listing of meanings for <would>, there is no example sentence to illustrate that <would> is the past tense of <will>

For years, I've asked native speakers to provide examples and they've been unable to do so.

One would [not past tense] think that these examples would leap out. That they don't tells us that modal verbs, in modern English, are tenseless.


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MikeNewYork:

Ten years ago, my wife and I would often eat at Joe's. (This describes a repeated action/habit of the couple in the past. One can conclude that they no longer eat at Joe's or at least that they don't eat there very often anymore.)

My wife and I will often eat at Joe's. (This describes a present repeated action/habit of the couple. One can conclude that the speaker/writer expects that pattern to continue into the future.)

My wife and I often eat at Joe's. (This "nonmodalized" version expresses a current habit. They only difference I can detect between this and the "will" form is that the speaker has made no judgment about future trips.

So far, you've provided no examples to substantiate the contention that modals have tense.


In the AHD quote, there were lots of meanings, Mike, just as you said. But, once again, no examples that illustrate modals have tense. Very strange indeed.