Wouldn’t know

Question

A: Don’t ask me any question about the US history. I wouldn’t know the answer.B: Don’t ask me any question about the US history. I wouldn’t know. Are the sentences above correct?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

EverestCTSAre the sentences above correct?

I have to say no. "Any question" would require a certain context, "the" is almost impossible, and I can't think of a context for the conditional. If we fix those, we might get

A: Don’t ask me any questions about US history. I won’t know the answer.

B: Don’t ask me any questions about US history. I won’t know.

Between those two revised sentences, only A is possible. If you start with a specific question, then B becomes possible:

Don't ask me what city is the capital of what country. I won't know.

You can use the conditional in a different way. "I wouldn't know" is an idiomatic reply to a stated question:

Bob: Where is the library?

Steve: I wouldn't know.

Steve means that he has so little knowledge of the layout of the area that he is the wrong person to ask about where buildings are. If he had said "I don't know", that would mean simply that he didn't know where the library was.

Wouldn’t know

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