Could you help me understand reading English?

Question

Level 1
Could you help me understand reading English?
Hi. I have a question about the following writing.

Dear Annie: This is for "Struggling in Wisconsin," whose 19-year-old daughter is bipolar. I am 31 years old, have been married for 11 years and have two beautiful, loving and smart children. I also have bipolar disorder.


Please let this mother know it`s not the end of the world. I have been coping with this since I was a teenager. It took a long time to get a correct diagnosis, but once it was given and my medication was updated, no one would ever know. My son was diagnosed as bipolar last year.

on the second line from the bottom, it says "but once it was given and my medication was updated, no one would ever know "

I want to know the usage of "would" in this sentece. I know "would" is differnt with "will". In this sentnece, "would shows past or future or something else? I am kind of weak in English grammar so please let me know step by step. ...

Answer 1

I think the writer is in error, and should have used "no one ever knew," or "no one will ever know," depending if she was taking about herself or about "Struggling in Wisconsin."

Answer 2

In this usage "would" is the "past participle". It takes the place of the verb when talking about what might have been. I am sorry English is so hard but it is compiled from 130 different languages across about 1600 years.

Good luck!

Answer 3

It is the hypothetical, 'imaginary' use of would. Even though there is no 'if' in it, the whole sentence is a second conditional sentence where the "correct diagnosis" needs to happen first before the rest of the sentence can come true.