When we tell a joke or narrate a story in simple present can we use 'would' in some cases? For example:
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This is clearly related to your other question about would. In this case I’d say that ‘will take revenge’ would be the more likely construction. That, I think, is because of the different nature of the two narratives. The story about Paul is clearly set in the past, in spite of the use of the present tense to make it sound more vivid. ‘Paul will later transfer . . .’ would have been possible, and even, perhaps, more consistent with the present tense, but the sense the reader has of the text being about past events makes would permissible. In the case of a joke, the setting is less obviously in the past. In a sense it is timeless and it is this, I think, that makes will rather than would the more obvious choice. |
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In a present simple narrative that includes reported speech, you can only use would if the direct speech contains would. Example: The man looks straight into his eyes and says: "I would take revenge." Of course, these actual words don't make much sense by themselves and need expansion. E.g.: The man looks straight into his eyes and says: "I would take revenge, if I weren't so puny." |
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