Will or Would: I Will Miss You, Pavarotti!

Not again. Today's post is below this one. For the record, it's September 8 here in Manila.


One of the greatest singers of the world has just died, Luciano Pavarotti. I spent all morning watching and crying over his videos on YouTube. While watching the great maestro, I decided on blogging about the modal verbs would and will and discuss the difference between the two.

English contains many words that mean almost the same. Would and will are examples of modal verbs that mean practically the same thing, but with a very slight difference. People use them to say something or to ask someone to do something. For example, "I will be studying today" or "I would like to study today." The difference between these two sentences is that "will be studying" is more definite while "would like to study" is tentative. In other words, you use will if you're sure of what will happen and would if you're not that sure.

Would is also used when you're requesting for something. It's a bit more polite to say "would you give me a glass of water, please."

Since I'm feeling so bad about Pavarotti, I say "I will miss him!"

If you're interested in some of his videos, check out these links of him singing "Miss Sarajevo" with U2, "Panis Angelicus" with Sting, "Viva Forever" with the Spice Girls, and "Let it Rain" with Bon Jovi. For fans of the musical "Rent," check out this video of Pavarotti singing "Che Gelida Manina." "Rent" the musical is based on Puccini's opera, "La Boheme." "Che Gelida Manina" is the scene in the opera where Rodrigo lights Mimi's candle and sings how cold her hand is. In the musical, this is updated into "Would You Light My Candle" with Roger and Mimi.

I wonder if the world would ever hear a voice as divine as Pavarotti's? Maybe, we will never know.