Hello Everyone,

I am so freaking confused between would and will. I am listing down three questions where would/will is used but with contradictory explanations. Please sugegst Source of all of these questions is form OG. I am not concerned about the answers here but the explanations

OG 10th edition Q 250

Q1) 250. The company announced that its profits declined much less in the second quarter than analysts had
expected it to and its business will improve in the second half of the year.

A) had expected it to and its business will improve
B )had expected and that its business would improve
C )expected it would and that it will improve its business
D )expected them to and its business would improve
E) expected and that it will have improved its business

Explanataion
B, the best choice, avoids errors of agreement, correctly uses the parallel construction that x and that y, and uses [u]would rather than will to refer to a promised but uncertain future event[/u]. In A and C, singular it after expected has no grammatical referent: its antecedent cannot be

Source: OG 10th edition Q 161

161. A wildlife expert predicts that the reintroduction of the caribou into northern Minnesota would tail if
the density of the timber wolf population in that region is more numerous than one wolf for every 39
square miles.

A) would fail if the density of the timber wolf population in that region is more numerous than
B )would fail provided the density of the timber wolf population in that region is more than
C )should fail if the timber wolf density in that region was greater than
D )will fail if the density of the timber wolf population in that region is greater than
E) will fail if the timber wolf density in that region were more numerous than

D, the best choice, uses a correct sequence of present and future indicative verb forms--predicts, will fail, and is—in the three related clauses. Density, an abstract "mass" noun, is logically construed with greater than. In A and B, would fail disagrees with the other verbs in tense and mood.

Source OG 11th Edition q 45

Source: OG 11th Edition q45

3) According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come in for a "soft landing," followed by a gradual increase in business activity.

A)that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come
B)in the economy to avoid the recession, what many had feared earlier, rather to come
C)in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared, and instead to come
D)in the economy to avoid the recession many were fearing earlier in the year, and rather to come
E)that the economy will avoid the recession that was feared earlier this year by many, with it instead coming

Explanation:

here the OG says that WILL is understood!!!


Now in each of the explanation the --Would/Will differs--All are conditional ..future occurences..So where is the difference and what's the principle behind would/will.

Thanks
Saurabh Malpani

First, think of "will" as a certain (or as certain as you can get) indication and "would" as an uncertain indication when talking about the future. This is "dumbing things down" a little, but it is the easiest way to think about this in terms of the test. Will = definite (or almost definite), would = maybe (reasonable uncertainty).

For the first sentence, OG10 Q250, the company is essentially expressing a hope that the business will improve - they can't be certain (or near-certain). As such, we should express it as "The company announced that its business would improve next year." The company expects it to... but it may or may not really happen.

For the second sentence, OG10 Q161, the wildlife expert is essentially saying "If this thing happens, then this other thing is going to happen, too." As far as one can be certain about such things (nothing's 100%, right?), the expert is certain. So we express this as "The reintroduction of caribou will tail if the density of predators is above a certain amount." If A, then B.

For the third sentence, OG11 Q45, you didn't mention the right answer on this one - it's A. Here, again, we have the stronger "almost definite" meaning b/c of the words used in the sentence - "growing confidence" that we can say something will (almost definitely) happen. Here, the "understood' comment in the explanation refers to the parallel structure of "will avoid... and instead [will, understood] come..." All that means is that we don't have to repeat the word "will" for the second verb in the parallel structure. The first "will" applies to both "avoid" and "come."

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Instructor
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ManhattanGMAT

do can and could have similar differences like will & would?

Normally we use 'can' frequantly as "I can do this".

That's right, yamini - the difference between "can" and "could" is essentially the same as that between "will" and "would".

I was working on tense, mood and voice of verbs today and got the first question in your post wrong (about the expected profits).

Thank you very much