关于will和would，对RON和OG表述的疑问

paddy114

LZ笨鸟，请各位赐教。
RON有以下言论：
if you see a SPLIT between “will” and “would”, then it's most likely that we are dealing with a tense issue.  
* if we are actually talking about an event that has not occurred yet -- i.e., an event that is genuinely in the future -- then we should usually use “will”.
* if we are talking about an event that was still a future event at the time described in the sentence (but is no longer a future event), then we should use “would”.

a couple of examples:

several experts have predicted that brazil will win the world cup in 2014.  (as of this writing it is not 2014 yet, so the future tense is appropriate)

last year, several experts predicted that brazil would win this year's world cup.  (this year's world cup is now over, so it's inappropriate to use the future tense.  therefore, we use “would”, which is a tense that we use to describe something that was once a future event, but is no longer)

in ancient times, the mayans predicted that the world will end in the year that corresponds to A.D. 2012 on the modern gregorian calendar.  (2012 has not happened yet, so we still use the future tense for the prediction -- even though the prediction was made a really, really long time ago) 此句中即便Prediction是在很久以前作出的，但由于预料的事件在现在的未来（书写此句时，2012还没有发生），我们还是用will而不是would！

然而在OG12-SC-139中：

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

Answer: B
在Og 的解释中：“The sentence must also use would rather than will for the company’s uncertain business improvement ”

疑问：按照RON的说法，即便公司的announcement是在过去作出的，但由于announce的事件是在现在的未来（根据语境，这句话书写的时间应该是announce之后，second half of the year之前，所以书写这句话的时候announce的内容还没有发生），那就应该用will而不是would呀？？我觉得这个说法也合乎逻辑。而OG解释中由于这公司并不能确定business是不是会improve所以要用would不用will。对未来情况的prediction的特点不就是不确定性吗？这样说的话所有对未来的预测都是不确定的，都该用would不能用will？？对虚拟语气的用法我还是不能理解，请CDers赐教。

amarelle

og这个题里面很明白，生意增长这件事是在“句子作者的过去语境”下的下半年，所以用would
will是用在“句子作者的未来语境”，比如例子里面说的（书写此句时，2012还没有发生）

paddy114

谢谢回答！我的疑惑就是在觉得OG这个题里所谓的下半年在书写句子的时间点以后，还没有发生，所以该用will。 有个740分的老外小伙伴跟我说因为是uncertainty，不理解为什么2012那个句子里也不是certain的但可以用will，单单annoucement这个句子要用would。而且我感觉announcement反倒是比perdiction更certain的表达方式。

paddy114

amarelle 发表于 2017-11-13 00:22
og这个题里面很明白，生意增长这件事是在“句子作者的过去语境”下的下半年，所以用would
will是用在“句子 ...

谢谢回答！我的疑惑就是在觉得OG这个题里所谓的下半年在书写句子的时间点以后，还没有发生，所以该用will。 有个740分的老外小伙伴跟我说因为是uncertainty，不理解为什么2012那个句子里也不是certain的但可以用will，单单annoucement这个句子要用would。而且我感觉announcement反倒是比perdiction更certain的表达方式。

paddy114

顶上去呀，还是不太懂，求NN搭救

谁是谁的小宝贝

感谢分享！