What if she doesn't?

Open Forum in English
1

A: Debbie’s a smart girl. Give her some time to process everything. She’ll come around.
B: What if she doesn’t?

Q1: “What if she doesn’t” means what if she doesn’t come around?
Q2: Is it okay to say “What if she won’t”?

Thank you very much!!

2

“…Q1: “What if she doesn’t” means what if she doesn’t come around?..”

Yes.

Q2: Is it okay to say “What if she won’t”?

It’s okay, but it sounds more emphatic - it somewhat implies a definite act of refusal on her part.

3

Q1: yes
Q2: Haha, it does sound like a more appropriate answer! After all, they say “she will (she’ll)”, so “she won’t” is more logical. But it’s not colloquial. “she doesn’t” is much more common in this case.

1 Like
4

Agree, except in this case “to come around” probably means to change her mind and accept something she initially opposed. Failure to do that could be willful refusal, so “won’t” meaning “is unwilling to” may be quite appropriate. Both ways of saying it are fine with only a subtle shade of difference in meaning.

5

Yeah, it isn’t very logical (when you think about it) but saying “she won’t come around” somewhat implies refusal.

EDIT: or a high degree of certainty on a speaker’s part, if it’s a prediction…I guess…