Suggestion
The phrase “it would be” can be used to make suggestions politely and indirectly. It is often used when the speaker is not sure if the other person will agree with the suggestion, or when they want to give the other person the option to decline.
For example, you might say “It would be great if we could go to the movies tonight.” This suggests that you would like to go to the movies, but you are not making it an order. The other person is free to say no, or to suggest a different activity.
Here are some other examples of how you can use the phrase “it would be” to make suggestions:
- It would be helpful if you could send me the file by the end of the day.
- It would be nice to go for a walk in the park this weekend.
The phrase “it would be” can also be used to make hypothetical suggestions. This means that you are not suggesting that the other person actually do something, but you are just exploring the possibilities.
For example, you might say “It would be interesting to see what would happen if we tried a different marketing strategy.” This is not a suggestion to change the marketing strategy, but it is a way of getting the other person to think about different options.
“it” is a dummy subject in all of the above examples. The word “it” is used as a placeholder for the subject of the sentence, which is often a noun clause or infinitive phrase that follows the phrase “it would be”.
For example, in the sentence “It would be great if we could go to the movies tonight,” the subject of the sentence is “if we could go to the movies tonight.” The word “it” is used as a placeholder for this subject.
Imagined Situation
Don’t you think he would look cool with a pair of sunglasses?
In this context, the word “would” is used to imagine a situation or express a hypothetical or conditional situation. It implies that if the person being referred to wears sunglasses, then it would be a logical or reasonable conclusion that they would look cool. The speaker is not certain if the person would actually look cool with sunglasses, but if they did, then it would be a sensible conclusion.
Profiling Research
In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 55 in MODALITY is defined as:
‘it would be’ to make suggestions.
All the EGP examples are followed by an adjective, then a conditional clause or infinitive clause.
Point 55 formally overlaps A2 point 26 in MODALITY:
‘would’ to talk about imagined situations.
*Point 26 doesn’t include a reference to the past since that would then be profiled to B1. The 2 examples in the EGP for point 26 contain:
It would + (be|look) + adjective.
Corpus Research
A search in iWeb for:
it would be _jj
1 IT WOULD BE NICE 50238
2 IT WOULD BE GREAT 34095
NEWS.com.auWe have profiled the rest of the adjectives in order of frequency:
To limit ourselves to A2 adjectives while looking for other possible subjects and linking verbs, we can use the following query in iWeb corpus:
* would _VV fun|easier|cool|useful|awesome|perfect|fair|wonderful|amazing|fantastic
1 IT WOULD MAKE PERFECT 277 Here perfect is attributive… ‘perfect sense’
You think it‘s Principal Drake?
Who else?
She‘s in charge.
It would make perfect sense.
In this context, the word “would” is used to express a conditional or hypothetical situation. It implies that if the person being referred to is indeed Principal Drake, then it would be logical or reasonable for her to be in charge of the situation. The speaker is not certain if Principal Drake is involved, but if she is, then it would be a sensible conclusion.
2 IT WOULD LOOK COOL 136
3 IT WOULD LOOK AMAZING 128
4 IT WOULD LOOK AWESOME 114
5 THAT WOULD MAKE PERFECT 108
6 YOU WOULD FIND USEFUL 96
This sign contains no information
that a road user would find useful.
7 IT WOULD GET EASIER 94 (clearly conditional)
I guess I thought if I came out,
8 IT WOULD LOOK PERFECT 85
9 IT WOULD LOOK FANTASTIC 70
10 THAT WOULD LOOK AMAZING 64
11 THEY WOULD MAKE FUN 57
12 PEOPLE WOULD MAKE FUN 43
13 THAT WOULD PROVE USEFUL 43
14 THIS WOULD MAKE PERFECT 40
15 THAT WOULD LOOK PERFECT 39
16 I WOULD FIND USEFUL 37
17 KIDS WOULD MAKE FUN 36
18 THEY WOULD FIND USEFUL 35
19 THESE WOULD MAKE AWESOME 33
20 AND WOULD LOOK AMAZING 32
21 THAT WOULD LOOK FANTASTIC 32
22 THEY WOULD LOOK AMAZING 31
23 I WOULD MAKE FUN 30
24 WHICH WOULD MAKE PERFECT 29
25 PEOPLE WOULD FIND USEFUL 29
26 IT WOULD SEEM FAIR 28 B2 linking verb
27 THAT WOULD MAKE AWESOME 26
28 IT WOULD TASTE AMAZING 26
Normally things that would taste very sour or tart,
somehow begin to taste very sweet.
29 AND WOULD LOOK PERFECT 25
30 THEY WOULD MAKE PERFECT 24
31 IT WOULD BECOME EASIER 24
32 FRIENDS WOULD MAKE FUN 23
33 AND WOULD LOOK FANTASTIC 23
34 AND WOULD LOOK WONDERFUL 23
35 WHICH WOULD LOOK AMAZING 23
36 THESE WOULD MAKE PERFECT 23
37 THAT WOULD LOOK WONDERFUL 22
38 THAT WOULD WORK PERFECT 22
39 IT WOULD WORK PERFECT 21
40 THIS WOULD LOOK AMAZING 20
41 IT WOULD PROVE USEFUL 19
42 THAT WOULD MAKE WONDERFUL 18
43 THEY WOULD LOOK AWESOME 18
44 OTHERS WOULD FIND USEFUL 17
45 THEY WOULD LOOK FANTASTIC 17
46 THEY WOULD MAKE WONDERFUL 17
47 THESE WOULD MAKE WONDERFUL 16
48 THAT WOULD LOOK AWESOME 15
Including an adverb:
it would be _r _jj
1 IT WOULD BE VERY DIFFICULT 2898
2 IT WOULD BE MUCH EASIER 1619
3 IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL 1597
4 IT WOULD BE VERY EASY 1512
5 IT WOULD BE VERY HARD 1358
6 IT WOULD BE REALLY NICE 1328
NRL.COMWe had AI complete the sentences for the corpus results 7-50:
- It would be much better if you could provide me with more context so that I can better assist you.
- It would be really cool to see a graphical representation of your data.
- It would be very interesting to learn more about your research.
- It would be more accurate to use a digital scale instead of an analog one.
- It would be nearly impossible to complete this task without the necessary resources.
- It would be almost impossible to achieve this goal without your support.
- It would be very useful to have access to your notes.
- It would be so easy to get started with our new software.
- It would be extremely difficult to complete this project on time without additional resources.
- It would be really helpful if you could provide me with more information.
- It would be very nice to meet you in person.
- It would be really great if we could work together on this project.
- It would be more appropriate to discuss this matter in private.
- It would be more difficult to complete this task without the necessary tools.
- It would be even better if we could meet next week instead.
- It would be pretty easy to fix this issue.
- It would be far better to address this issue now rather than later.
- It would be pretty cool to see your project come to life.
- It would be too hard to complete this task without additional support.
- It would be really interesting to learn more about your experiences.
- It would be really hard to complete this project without your help.
- It would be so nice to see you again.
- It would be too expensive to implement this solution.
- It would be more efficient to use a different approach.
- It would be too easy to make a mistake without proper training.
- It would be virtually impossible to complete this task without the necessary skills.
- It would be really good to hear your thoughts on this matter.
- It would be more interesting to explore this topic further.
- It would be too difficult to complete this project without additional resources.
- It would be too late to make changes at this point.
- It would be more useful to have access to your data.
- It would be pretty hard to complete this task without the necessary tools.
- It would be relatively easy to make these changes.
- It would be more convenient to schedule this meeting for next week.
- It would be so cool to see your project come to fruition.
- It would be more beneficial to use a different approach.
- It would be really useful to have access to your expertise.
- It would be more effective to use a different strategy.
- It would be much harder to complete this task without the necessary skills.
- It would be fairly easy to make these changes.
- It would be really fun to work on this project together.
- It would be so great to see your vision come to life.
- It would be more fun to explore this topic further.
- It would be more helpful to have access to your feedback.