[Ads-l] "would have"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Used to indicate a past event known to have occurred:

"Humans and chimps actually both evolved from a common ancestor (CHLCA)
that lived around 8 million years ago. Eventually, the genetic lineage
would have split two ways, giving rise to the precursors of hominids and
modern apes."

Brits especially use this construction to indicate something that almost
certainly happened, but some doubt remains (virtually the same as  "must
have").

But the above usage seems not to imply that.

JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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