Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2004

FB a écrit:

Here are the relevant quotations in the OED CD-Rom :

 c888 Ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §7 Wildu dior ðær woldon to irnan & stondan
swilce hi tamu wæren.  c1000 Ælfric Saints' Lives xxvi. 114 He wolde
æfter uhtsange oftost hine ?ebiddan.  c1290 Beket 26 in S. Eng. Leg. I.
107 Ofte-siþe heo wolde speke with him.  1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls)
VIII. 33 Sche wolde selden come at cherche.  1470-85 Malory Arthur ix.
xxxvii. 399 Euery day syr Palomydes wold repreue sir Tristram of old
hate betwixe them.  1573 L. Lloyd Marrow of Hist. (1653) 40 The
Athenians at any victory, would crown the Conqueror with a Garland made
of Oken leaves.  1587 T. Underdown tr. Heliodorus vii. (1895) 184 So lay
shee all that night+sometime would she rise up:+sometime would shee cast
her cloathes almoste all from her.  1622 Bacon Hen. VII 210 They would
also ruffle with Iurors.  1750 Gray Elegy 103 There at the foot of
yonder nodding beech+His listless length at noontide would he stretch.
1805 Scott Last Minstr. iii. xvii, He never counted him a man, Would
strike below the knee.  1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxi, The girls would
ask her+for a little music, and she would sing her three songs.  1915 W.
Holt Beacon for Blind xxx. 307 He would often return home exhausted from
his work, and when Mrs. Fawcett read to him he would frequently fall
fast asleep.

The + sign which appears from time to time is the way the peculiar OED
ellipsis sign --two dots-- is shown when I copy and paste.

I don't know about authoritative. Using Google and "would often":

 [http://dickens.thefreelibrary.com/Great-Expectations/1-12]

 Sometimes, she would coldly tolerate me; sometimes, she would
 condescend to me; sometimes, she would be quite familiar with me;
 sometimes, she would tell me energetically that she hated me. Miss
 Havisham would often ask me in a whisper ... And when I said yes ...
 would seem to enjoy it greedily. Also, when we played at cards Miss
 Havisham would look on ...

etc. etc. I can't stand Dickens, btw. A Hardy "would":

[http://www.literaturepage.com/read/tess-of-the-durbervilles-109.html]

 But she would often clasp her hands behind her head and muse when
 she was supposed to be working hard.

Not so sure about this one:

 [http://www.online-literature.com/austen/prideprejudice/10/]

 A regard for the requester would often make one readily yield to a
 request without waiting for arguments to reason one into it.

She would bore us. Less would'en here:

[http://www.underthesun.cc/Classics/Austen/frieindsip/frieindsip4.html]

 "Beware my Laura (she would often say) Beware of the insipid
 Vanities and idle Dissipations of the Metropolis of England; Beware
 of the unmeaning Luxuries of Bath and of the stinking fish of
 Southampton."

Woolf this down:

 [http://www.literaturepage.com/read/woolf-night-and-day-84.html]

 But silence depressed Mrs. Hilbery, and far from minding the
 presence of maids, she would often address herself to them, and was
 never altogether unconscious of their approval or disapproval of her
 remarks.

All these have "often" and may not suit your purposes.
I have rushed my selection; others may do better.

R.

They dwelt in a cold spot and a dangerous one; for a
mountain towered above their heads, so steep, that
the stones would often rumble down its sides and startle
them at midnight.
Hawthorne, _Ambitious Guest_

Buck had a trick of love expression that was akin to hurt.
He would often seize Thornton's hand in his mouth and close
so fiercely that the flesh bore impress of his teeth for some
time afterward.
London, _Call of the Wild_

The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated
the earth, of have only a casual existence were we callous to
the touches of affection. The robber and the murderer, would
often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers
sustain, provoke us into justice.
Paine, _Common Sense_

She would often be lost in deep thought, with the saddest
look upon her face.
Conan Doyle, _Copper Beeches_