Will and would

We use will (present and would (past) to talk about repeated or characteristic behaviour:

He will often just walk right in without knocking

She will spend €200 on clothes on a Saturday

My father would take us out fro a drive every Sunday

In summer we would go to a caravan park in the south

As well as repeated event, we use will and would for events which are always true:

Dogs will bark if they are nervous

Ice will melt in high temperatures

In the middle ages people would eat wood

Before mobile phones, people would call into each other’s houses

However DO NOT use them for specific occasions, only general times:

Last night he would talk for hours

Last night he talked for hours

When I was a boy he would talk for hours

We use would and used to talk about the repeated past:

He would go to the cinema every Friday

He used to see a film every week

However, we ONLY use would if the time reference is clear:

He used to eat burgers

He would eat a burger on his birthday

We can also use would and will to criticise people:

She’ll never do the washing up, even when you ask her

He’d always complain when you asked him to do something

We use will to state a probability, an assumption for the present:

It’s nine o’clock. It’ll be still dark in New York

He will be arriving around now