Korean Job Discussion Forums

[raewon]

After a long break of no questions, I'm suddenly finding them everywhere these days. I have a question about "would" in the context below that I hope someone can help with.


It was a time when paper was too expensive to waste on practice. If you wanted to practice writing, you would do what Lincoln did. He used a stick and wrote in the dirt.


What is the grammatical function of "would"? It doesn't seem like it's the subjunctive, and I don't think it's being used as part of a conditional...

Thanks for any replies to this one.

[Chaucer]

Past habitual narration?

[raewon]

Thanks for the reply. I had thought about the "habitual" part. But if that's correct, shouldn't you be able to use "used to" as well? (which won't work in the original sentence)

[edwardcatflap]

[quote]Thanks for the reply. I had thought about the "habitual" part. But if that's correct, shouldn't you be able to use "used to" as well? (which won't work in the original sentence)[quote]

It was a time when paper was too expensive to waste on practice. If you wanted to practice writing, you used to do what Lincoln did. He used a stick and wrote in the dirt.

Sounds all right to me

[raewon]

edwardcatflap, thanks for pointing that out. I must have put "used to" in the wrong place when I made the substitution.

Thanks!