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modal verbs

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eflnow

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What's the difference between would, should and could?
 

BobK

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Would you describe yourself as a teacher? Should you describe yourself as a teacher? Could you describe yourself as a teacher? :) It seems to me that the question is not 'What's the difference between them' so much as 'Given that they are so very different, in what respects are they similar?'

b
 

MASM

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Would you describe yourself as a teacher? Should you describe yourself as a teacher? Could you describe yourself as a teacher? :) It seems to me that the question is not 'What's the difference between them' so much as 'Given that they are so very different, in what respects are they similar?'

b

They have the same ending? :-D
 

BobK

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They have the same ending? :-D
As a matter of etymological interest, 'could' only has the same ending because a bunch of early prescriptivists thought it should look like the other modals; so they gave it a silent L. Chaucer, for example, used 'coude' (or maybe 'koude' - or maybe both [I haven't time to check]). ;-)

b
 
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