After qutting the position, he would become the CEO of the company.

What does this sentence mean?

1. He is going to be the CEO of the company in the future
2. He became the CEO of the company in the past
3. 1 or 2 according to context.

What is the correct option?

Vedi una traduzione

@ooo14

What makes the meaning sound like the future is if it sounds like something will happen after a condition is met (the mention of conditions should inform you that “if” is commonly used in such a sentence). The sentence is “suggesting” a “possible” future. Korean -겠 has some similarities to this. 맛있겠다 “presumes” a very strong, but unconfirmed, likelihood that something is delicious. For example,

“If you kissed me right now, I would kiss you back.”

The sentence you gave as an example is very vague. The first part of the sentence is telling a story... giving background. The use of “would become” as a past tense makes it sound like it already happened.

But it also sounds like an order, or an instruction in a political movie.

“After killing him, you would become president.”

Lol.

I would google the grammar concept “subjunctive mood”. I recommend the website from the grammarist. The funniest part is that the intro of the explanation says lots of English speakers don’t know how to use it so they avoid it. So don’t worry if you have a hard time understanding it. It is a dying grammar point in modern English.

Hope I helped.