Meaning of wood
I read a sentence like this in a news story:
"The officer would not say what kind of weapons were used."
as well as many other sentences with "would".
I guess in this sentence "would" is different than "did", and it means that he wouldn't say this despite reporter's insisting. Is my guess right? Or could this word be replaced with did?
Thank you.
PS: The URL for the story is this: edition.cnn.com/2015/02/13/canadian-mass-shooting-plot/index.html

Question

Answer

It means that he refused to say what kind of weapons were used. And, yes, your guess is exactly right : despite the reporter's insistence, he still refused to say.

You could replace it with 'did', but you would lose much of the meaning of the sentence. If you put 'did not say' it might mean that, quite by chance, he simply happened not to say this. The 'would' indicates that he was asked, but could not be persuaded to answer the question.

Answer

Yes, in this case 'would' is simply the past tense of 'will'.
In the present: 'The officer will not say...' = does not want to say
So in the past 'will' becomes 'would'

Answers · 4

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