Wann verwendet man would/should in englischen if-Sätzen?
Die Faustregel sagt ja, daß in Typ-II-Konditionalsätzen nur past tense steht und keine Formen der Modalverben will/shall. Wikipedia listet ein paar Ausnahmen dazu (insbesondere modale Bedeutung von would = wollen), aber ich verstehe nicht, wie sie die folgenden Zitate aus The Lord of the Rings erklären.
He wondered if he would ever again have the courage to leave the safety of these stone walls.
He wondered if he would remain maimed for life
I was just wondering if you would be wanting anything.
Then he taught them a rhyme to sing, if they should by ill-luck fall into any danger
For few, I deem, know of our deeds, and therefore guess little of their peril, if we should fail at last.
But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
But if hope should not fail, then I say to you, Gimli son of Glóin, that your hands shall flow with gold
If a prisoner should escape […] we might pass the signs and never know it.
risking our utter ruin, if the Enemy should recover what he lost.
But if I should return, think better of me!
Auch bei Shakespeare finde ich solche Sätze nicht selten:
If [my father] were dead, you’ld weep for him: if you would not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new father (Macbeth)
Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong for the whole world. (Othello)
If I should speak, she would mock me into air (Much Ado about Nothing)
What would you say, if I should let you speak? (Titus Andronicus)
if thou shouldst not be glad I would divorce me from thy mother’s tomb (King Lear)
Die Beispiele mit should scheinen mir eine besondere Vagheit oder besonders hypothetische Unwahrscheinlichkeit auszudrücken („falls es entgegen allen Erwartungen eintreten sollte“, „wenn es wirklich geschähe“), aber das ist nur meine Interpretation. Bei den Beispielen mit would sehe ich gar kein gemeinsames Muster.
Hat jemand eine bessere Idee, wie diese Sätze zu verstehen sind?
