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I read a quote from "House of cards" that went like: "You're are my best friend, John. I couldn't have it off with my best friend. It would be embarrassing."

Is it of any difference if I change "couldn't" to "can't" and "would" to "will"?

I tried to figure it out for a long time but no clue.

daniellei
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    These are past-tense forms employed to express irrealis modality--condition- and consequence-contrary-to-fact--rather than temporal reference. – StoneyB on hiatus Aug 01 '15 at 03:27

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Couldn't to can't: no effective difference. "couldn't" is talking about a hypothetical scenario, "can't" is more about a real scenario, but the effective message is the same.

Would to will: "would" is hypothetical, "will" is not. "It will be embarrassing" is saying it will happen, which is not only very different to "It would be embarrassing" (if it did) but also contrary to the previous sentence where you have said it cannot happen.

Avon
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