I would suggest this.
It would be great if you complete this.
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1Please [edit] this to show what research you have done to try to answer this question yourself. – curiousdannii Jan 04 '16 at 00:40
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Would is a Modal Auxiliary Verb, as are will, may, might, can, could, shall, should, and must.
As their name suggests, would and all other modal auxiliary verbs are used as auxiliary verbs.
An auxiliary verb is a verb that's used to introduce another predicate, usually another verb form. Modal auxiliary verbs must be the first auxiliary verb of any verb phrase they occur in, and must introduce (and be followed by) a verb in its infinitive form (but without to). See here for details.
In the sentences given above, would is followed by the infinitives suggest and be;
be itself is also an auxiliary verb, required by the predicate adjective great.
John Lawler
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Do you mean there are two auxiliary verbs in "It would be great" and the sentence works? Two auxiliary verbs + adjective in a sentence. Then why do we use auxiliary verb? You don't agree with the definition in the link that says auxiliary verb is said to help a main verb. – Jan 03 '16 at 20:02
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@Rathony - Yes, there are two auxiliary verbs in It would be great. The be is the auxiliary verb that's used for predicates that aren't verbs, like predicate adjectives (as here). The link doesn't say auxiliary verbs must help a main verb; it says they usually accompany a main verb. And they do. But they can also accompany non-verbal predicates. – John Lawler Jan 04 '16 at 00:55
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In short, in the examples given in the original post, the would-construction is typically interpreted as being used to soften or make indirect, perhaps with the goal of making polite speech.
jyc23
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It's the past tense of will, in:
If you ask me, I will say....
That is, had you asked me, I would have said...
amancalledaman
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