student asking question

"she would be" and "she was" what's different between these two? 

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"She would be" means that someone desires or aspires to be a certain kind of person but is not that person yet. "She was" is referring to who this woman was in the past, such as what she did for an occupation, what kind of personality she had, etc. Ex: She would be great at that job. Ex: I would be traveling the world if I had the money. Ex: He was an amazing teacher and all his students loved him. Ex: He was an incredible racer in the 80s.

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