... except that nobody seems to be able to use it correctly. This is something that I've noticed popping up in the RP community as a whole, both in World of Warcraft and now here. Someone who is RPing will use the word "would" in a way that makes
absolutely no friggin' sense. For example:
Captain Extraneous Character would settle his ruggedly handsome frame into the seat with a satisfied yet grim look on his handsomely rugged features. "I believe I have taken care of the problem which Arachnos poses to us ... for now."
Whenever someone writes something like this, I have to restrain the snarky side of me from chipping in with something along the lines of "but he actually doesn't, because ... what?"
The word "would," when properly used, indicates either a habitual action:
"On Tuesdays, his uncle would take him to get ice cream at the store on the corner."
or something that might happen if a particular condition was met which either isn't or is uncertain:
"He would have taken his nephew to get ice cream that Tuesday, if it wasn't raining."
"He would take his nephew to get ice cream on Tuesdays when it wasn't too hot out."
or to put it another way:
"I
would be able to tolerate the way some people choose to RP
if they had a proper understanding of how grammar works,
but they don't,
so I am driven to the edges of frothing insanity on a regular basis."
Anyway, I'm posting this to ask: where is this coming from?! What maniac started this trend?
