ESL Grammar: Would

Forms of Would 

Affirmative

Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb

Example: I would watch a movie with her. 

Negative 

Subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb 

Example: She would not do her homework. 

Question

Auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

Example: Would you leave please? 

Uses of Would

1. Would expresses a type of past tense of will or going to.  I thought she would come, so I bought some extra candy. 

2. Would expresses something that has not happened in the past at the time we are talking about. In Brazil he met the woman he would one day marry. 

3. Would is used in the second and third conditional sentences. If an American man marries his cousin he would go to jail. If I had won the lottery I would have partied every night. 

Note: Would can also express desire, polite requests and questions, opinion or hope, wish and regret 

Would You Rather Exercise 

1. Would you rather always be 10 minutes late or 20 minutes early? 

2. Would you rather be an average person in the present or be a king or queen 2500 years ago? 

3. Would you rather your only form of transportation be a giraffe or a donkey?

4. Would you rather live on the beach or live in a cabin in the forest? 

5. Would you rather give up bathing for a month or give up internet for a month? 

6. Would you rather find your true love or a suitcase with five million dollars inside?