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I'm struggling to understand the rules that applies to the "would" used in past context. For example, which of the following is correct :

A) Sun developed an open protocol which simply specified the exact message formats that clients and servers would use to communicate

or

B) Sun developed an open protocol which simply specified the exact message formats that clients and servers would have used to communicate

The book I was reading used the A sentence, which is obviously correct. What about the B?

KillingTime
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user14210576
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  • Would have refers to actions before the time being referred to. The clients and servers were using the formats at the time the protocol was in use, not at an earlier time. – Kate Bunting Feb 26 '22 at 12:46
  • A. should be "could use" and B. should be "use." Books are not always correct. – Mark Hubbard Feb 26 '22 at 16:19
  • @MarkHubbard Why do you have different replacements for A and B? They're not independent questions, they're two alternative ways to express the intended thought. The question is which one is correct. – Barmar Feb 27 '22 at 00:27

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