triettran
Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2011
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Vietnamese
- Home Country
- Vietnam
- Current Location
- Vietnam
Dear,
I would appreciate your help on this. I am actually quite familiar with English and use it pretty well. However, there are still some simple problems I find quite confusing.
I recently read a transcript of President Obama and found that in the talk, he uses Could and Would in very similar ways that we usually use Can and Will.
For examples:
"The challenges facing financial markets around the world could have very real effects on our own economy at a time when it’s already fragile"
"Right now, there are millions of laid-off construction workers who could be repairing our bridges and roads and modernizing our schools"
Please fix me if I'm wrong but I think using could here doesn't make the sentence look more formal, and we can use CAN instead.
And some more:
"So any Senator out there who’s thinking about voting against this jobs bill needs to explain why they would oppose something that we know would improve our economic situation"
" The American Jobs Act would cut taxes for virtually every worker and small business in America"
Again, WOULD can totally be replaced by WILL in these statements (right?). Actually in the speech, there are several places that use WILL and those statements have exactly the same meaning as the 2 above:
"It is time for those who oppose the jobs act to explain why they are fighting against something that we know will improve the American economy"
"this jobs bill will have a significant effect for our economy and middle-class families all across America"
I don't think WILL is used for more certain statements because a President's speech should not have any weak arguments.
Please help me to sort this out, it's not very important to me but just for my curiosity. And keep in mind that I'm from Vietnam and have no political interest in this. I use Weekly Address to practice speaking that's all.
Thanks so much,
I would appreciate your help on this. I am actually quite familiar with English and use it pretty well. However, there are still some simple problems I find quite confusing.
I recently read a transcript of President Obama and found that in the talk, he uses Could and Would in very similar ways that we usually use Can and Will.
For examples:
"The challenges facing financial markets around the world could have very real effects on our own economy at a time when it’s already fragile"
"Right now, there are millions of laid-off construction workers who could be repairing our bridges and roads and modernizing our schools"
Please fix me if I'm wrong but I think using could here doesn't make the sentence look more formal, and we can use CAN instead.
And some more:
"So any Senator out there who’s thinking about voting against this jobs bill needs to explain why they would oppose something that we know would improve our economic situation"
" The American Jobs Act would cut taxes for virtually every worker and small business in America"
Again, WOULD can totally be replaced by WILL in these statements (right?). Actually in the speech, there are several places that use WILL and those statements have exactly the same meaning as the 2 above:
"It is time for those who oppose the jobs act to explain why they are fighting against something that we know will improve the American economy"
"this jobs bill will have a significant effect for our economy and middle-class families all across America"
I don't think WILL is used for more certain statements because a President's speech should not have any weak arguments.
Please help me to sort this out, it's not very important to me but just for my curiosity. And keep in mind that I'm from Vietnam and have no political interest in this. I use Weekly Address to practice speaking that's all.
Thanks so much,