WOULD

Four cases

1. Would is used in reported speech; as the past form of WILL

She told me that she would die in the year 2074.

2. Would is used in the result clause of SECOND CONDITIONAL

Example

If I were you, I would move to a safer and less expensive place.

or

I would move to a safer and less expensive place if I were you.

3. Would is used in association with another verb, not a another modal verb, instead of using want.

Example

Would you like to learn German folk dancing?

= Do you want to learn German folk dancing?

4. Would is used to soften other verbs and it looks like the SECOND CONDITIONAL with a missing IF clause.

I would move to a healthier environment.

Note this might be a reply to, What would you do?

Exercise

I found these sentences with online. Please organize them into one of the above use cases. If something doesn't fit one of the above use cases, create another use case!

Would you like to read his speech?

= Do you want to read his speech?

That would be the best way. (gentler/softer than the equivalent sentence)

= That is the best way.

How long *would these mind games go 8on?

= I (or any other subject) wondered how long would these mind games go on?

= "How long will these mind games go on?"

His father hoped that Daniel would grow up to be a wise and famous man.

= His father hoped that Daniel grew up to be a wise and famous man.

He was in trouble because his students would not study.

= He was in trouble becsause his students *refused to study.

or

= He was in trouble because his students didn't study.

Daniel and his father would ride there on horseback.

= Daniel and his father used to ride there on horesback

Food for thought

Are there any WOULD sentence that don't belong to any of the categories? Do we need to define one or two more categories. If you are comfortable using the equivalent sentences that do not contain "would" then only use WOULD for reported speech, second conditional, (oh! and third conditional.

Third conditional

If I had thought about living abroad, I would have purchased land in Mexico 25 years ago when I had 93,000USD in cash.

There are many use cases!

Second conditional, third conditional and reported speech are the cases to know and to use. That's all you need!