I am getting confused with this...

Hello Dear teachers,
I would like to have your help with this kind of sentences teacher gave me at collage:

- how do the words in italics affect the meaning of these 4 sentences?

1 the personnel department might give you a reference
2 the personnel department could give you a reference
3 the personnel department would give you a reference
4 the personnel department should give you a reference

THANKSSSSS!

Ani

[Tigerboy]

Originally Posted by Ana Laura =)

Hello Dear teachers,
I would like to have your help with this kind of sentences teacher gave me at collage:
- how do the words in italics affect the meaning of these 4 sentences?
1 the personnel department might give you a reference
2 the personnel department could give you a reference
3 the personnel department would give you a reference
4 the personnel department should give you a reference
THANKSSSSS!
Ani

Hi Ana Laura,

I'm not a teacher actually, but I really want to answer your questions, for my information, the meaning of these are;

might ==>possibility
could ==>permission, possibility, ability and polite request
would ==>permission, polite request and future in the past
should ==>advice, expectation probability,guess

They all are modal verbs.

Tigerboy

[rewboss]

1. They might... but then again, they might not. In this sentence, "might" indicates that there is a small-to-medium possibility of them giving you a reference, but it's entirely their decision, and they may decide not to after all. Or they may not even be able to give out references, perhaps due to some kind of weird company policy, but we don't know for sure.

2. "Could" means something similar to "might" in this sentence, but there is a slightly stronger possibility. In any case, the department is able to give out references, so maybe they'll give you one.

3. They would if... "Would" here means that if certain conditions are met, the department will give you a reference. The condition is most likely: If you ask them nicely.

4. "Should" means the department are very likely to give you a reference: in fact, that's their job, and it would be surprising if they didn't.