he would never have worn any of his masterpieces

[Tony_M]

Greetings,

A: Have you ever heard of Alex Zalevich?
B: Yes, he was a fashion designer many years ago. His collections were bizarre, eccentric, and funny at the same time.
A: That's right; his imagination was good, but, he would never have worn any of his masterpieces...at least in public.

Is it okay to use 'would never have worn' to make a tentative suggestion of this probability or tendency in the past?

I've asked this question here:

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/english-he-wouldve-never-worn-any-of-his-masterpieces.4128324/#post-21221921

I need a second opinion.

Thank you

 

[Tarheel]

Greetings,

A: Have you ever heard of Alex Zalevich?
B: Yes, he was a fashion designer many years ago. His collections were bizarre, eccentric, and funny at the same time.
A: That's right; his imagination was good, but, he would never have worn any of his masterpieces...at least in public.

Is it okay to use 'would never have worn' to make a tentative suggestion of this probability or tendency in the past?

I've asked this question here:

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/english-he-wouldve-never-worn-any-of-his-masterpieces.4128324/#post-21221921

I need a second opinion.

[.......?!]

For some reason you are confusing past and present. If I say somebody would or wouldn't do something I am giving you my opinion about his behavior now (in the present). If I say that person would have or wouldn't have done something I am commenting on his behavior in the past.

 

[Tony_M]

Any other thoughts?

 

[Tarheel]

Pay attention, and be less stubborn. They gave you good advice over there (WR), but instead of listening to that advice you adopted an argumentative tone. (I'm Carolinian on WR.)

 

[Tony_M]

Pay attention, and be less stubborn. They gave you good advice over there (WR), but instead of listening to that advice you adopted an argumentative tone. (I'm Carolinian on WR.)

They gave you good advice too.

 

[teechar]

I've asked this question here:

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/english-he-wouldve-never-worn-any-of-his-masterpieces.4128324/#post-21221921

That link requires logging into the site. I can't see the discussion.

I need a second opinion.

Why? It would be more helpful if you could provide a brief summary of what you don't agree with.
---------------------
As I said, I can't see the discussion on WR, but I'll try to help you.

Example:
If he hadn't bought that lottery ticket, he would have never won the jackpot.
This means:
- He bought the ticket (a single action in the past).
- He won the jackpot (a single action/event in the past).
- The sentence is about an imaginary situation (in the past) that did not happen.

Example:
He had a nasty crash but survived. He would never drive after that.
This means:
- He had a crash (a single event in the past) and never drove after that.
- The reason for "would" is, for example, he may be dead now. Otherwise, we might say "he's never driven since".

Example:
He never got over the loss of his wife. He would visit her grave every Sunday for the rest of his life.
This means:
- His wife died sometime in the past.
- He visited her grave regularly until he died.
----------------------
Does that help?

 

[jutfrank]

Is it okay to use 'would never have worn' to make a tentative suggestion of this probability or tendency in the past?

Can you say a bit more about what you mean here? I don't quite understand what you mean by 'tenatative suggestion'. Also, are you trying to make a statement of probability or of tendency? To me, that's quite a crucial difference. At the moment, my interpretation is that you're talking about tendency, but it's not really clear. Let's get the meaning straight first.

Also, bear in mind that most of us don't have permission to see what's on the page you linked. If you can summarise what people are saying there, it might help us know how to answer here.

 

[Tarheel]

@Tony_M

Say:

I asked this question here. (Simple past.)

When should you use past perfect? (See below.)

Perhaps:

I've asked this question before, but I didn't get a satisfactory answer.

My apologies! I totally disagree with what I said on WR yesterday. (That guy's a dummy! )

Sometimes we can use different words but still -- practically speaking -- mean the same thing.

 

[Tony_M]

I don't quite understand what you mean by 'tenatative suggestion'. Also, are you trying to make a statement of probability or of tendency?

I want it to describe a repeated action/habitual state of affairs or expected behavior.

 

[teechar]

Did you read my post above?

 

[jutfrank]

I want it to describe a repeated action/habitual state of affairs or expected behavior.

If that's it, I don't see a reason for the perfect aspect when the simple suffices to do that:

... he would never wear any of his masterpieces

(I think this is also what teechar is suggesting in post #6 above.)