The first sentence means he believed his camp arrival time was going to be about 6:00 p.m. He calculated that he would get to the camp around 6 p.m.
To tone down strong, controversial statements-not recommended in formal essays:.If her response had been to not wait, then next John would have been on the wrong trail.) John would've missed the trail if Mary hadn't waited for him at the stream. This "not knowing" occurred before my not helping you.) I would have helped you if I had known you were stranded. To show a different response if the past had been different:.In the two sentences above, would means about the same thing as will.
Would you turn in your assignment now? = Please turn in your assignment now. Would you like some coleslaw? = Do you want some coleslaw? Technically, would is the past tense of will, but it is an auxiliary verb that has many uses, some of which even express the present tense. Would, should and could are three auxiliary verbs that can be defined as past tenses of will, shall, and can however, you may learn more from seeing sentences using these auxiliaries than from definitions.