Will, would and used to

Will and would

We can use will (for the present) and would (for the past) to talk about-

Characteristic behavior or habits:

Things that are or were always true

Every day Dan will come home from work and turn on the TV.

Cold weather will kill certain plants.

During the war, people would eat all kinds of things that we don't eat now.

At school, she would always sit quietly and pay attention.

In speech, we can stress will or would to criticize people's characteristic behavior or habits.

We don't use will or would in this way to talk about a particular occasion. Compare:

Each time I gave him a problem he would solve it for me

Last night, I gave him a problem, and he solved it for me. (Not he would solve it )

She just won't do the washing up when I ask her.

I was happy when Ryan left. He would talk about people behind their backs.

We can also express disapproval of something they have done using will

I feel sick, Well, if you will eat so much, I'm not surprised.

We can use will to draw conclusions or state assumptions about things that are the case now.

Martina will be at home today. Let's go and see her.

You will know that Ewan and Lucy are engaged. (I assume you already know)

Would and used to

Would / will have + past participle:

When we talk about repeated events in the past that don't happen now, we can use either would or used to + infinitive. However, we can use would only if the time reference is clear.

We used to play in the garden.

Whenever we went to my uncle's house, we would / used to play in the garden.

We don't use either used to but no would when we say exactly how many times in total something happened, how long something took, or that a single event happened at a given past time.

We can use used to but not would when we talk about past states that have changed.

The factory used to be over there.

We visited Switzerland four times during the 1990s. (not We would play ..;timer reference not given)

Didn't you use to have red hair?

She went to Jamaica last month. (not she would / used to visit)

To talk about an unreal past situation- that is, an imaginary situation or a situation that might have happened in the past, but didn't-we use would have + past participle.:

However, to say that we think a past situation actually happened, we use will have + past participle:

I would have been happy to see him, but I didn't have time.

As it was cloudy, few people will have seen last night's lunar eclipse.