The sentence

More documents

Recommendations

Info

3. May is more ‘respectful’ than can and could: May I borrow your umbrella (please)? 4. Might is the most polite but the least common: Might I borrow your umbrella (please)? 5. We can add possibly and use expressions like Do you think and I wonder if to make requests even more polite: Can/Could/May/Might I possibly borrow your umbrella? Do you think I could/Do you think I might (possibly) borrow your umbrella? I wonder if I could/I wonder if I might (possible) borrow your umbrella? Give and refusing permission/Expressing prohibition We personally give or refuse permission in everyday situations in the following ways: You can (not) watch TV for as long as you like. (Not *could*) may (not) (Not *might*) We refer to ‘some other authority’ that gives/refuses permission like this: You can/cannot or You’re allowed to/not allowed to You can/cannot or You’re permitted to/not permitted to smoke here. You mustn’t or You’re forbidden to Permission/prohibition in tenses other than present and future May and must are not ‘complete verbs’, so we use be allowed to to make up their ‘missing parts’: The children were allowed to watch TV last night. (Not *could*) ‘Can’ (= ability) and ‘can/could’ (= have permission, be free to) We use can/could in the sense of ‘am/is/are free to ‘to refer to the future: Mr Jones can/could see you tomorrow, if you ar free. Or Mr Jones is able to see you … But we must use will be able to (not *can/could*) to describe future ability: Baby will be able to stand up in two weeds’ time. (Not *can/could*) D. Uses of modals (etc.) to express certainly and possibility Certainly and possibility 1. if we are certain of our facts, we use be or any full verb: Jane is at home. Jane works at home. (certain facts) 2. If we are referring to possibility, we use may, might or could + be/have been: Jane may/might/could be at home now. She may/might/could have been at home yesterday. Or we use may, might, could + full verb: Jane may/might/could work (or … may/might/could be working) at home. She may/might/could have worked (or … have been working) at home yesterday. Certain and uncertain answers to questions 1. A ‘certain’ question may produce an ‘uncertain’ answer: Does he like fish? – He might (do). He may (do). He could (do). He may not. 70
2. An ‘uncertain’ question may produce a ‘certain’ answer: Can he still be working? – Yes, he is. 3. We use be and have been to answer questions with be: Is he ill? – He may be. Was he ill? – He may have been. (Not *he may*) 4. We use do/done to replace other verbs, though this is optional: Will you catch the early train? – I may./I may do. Has he received my message? – He could have./He could have done. 5. We also answer Wh-questions with ‘certainty’ or ‘uncertainty’: What’s his name? – It’s Smith. (certain) It may/might be Smith. (uncertain) What was his name? – It was Smith. (certain) It may/might have been Smith. (uncertain) E. Uses of modals of express deduction Certainly or deduction? 1. We express certainty with be or any full verb: He is here. He lives here. He is leaving. 2. We express deduction with must be/can’t be, must have been, can’t/couldn’t have been: He must be at home. He can’t be out. He must have been at home yesterday. Or with verbs other than be: He must live abroad. He must have lived abroad. Two kinds of ‘must be’ 1. We use must be in the present to express deduction: You haven’t eaten for hours. You must be hungry! 2. The negative of must be (= deduction) is can’t be, not *mustn’t be*: You’ve only just eaten. You can’t be hungry again! (Not *mustn’t be*) 3. We can also use must (be) to express total obligation: This is a hospital. You must be quiet. 4. The negative of must (be) (= total obligation) is mustn’t (be) (= prohibition): You mustn’t be noisy outside a hospital. ‘Must have/been’, can’t/couldn’t have been’; ‘had to be/didn’t have to be’ 1. We express deduction about the past with must have been: You hadn’t eaten for hours. You must have been hungry! 2. The negative of must have been is can’t/couldn’t have been, not *mustn’t have been*: You had already eaten. You can’t/couldn’t have been hungry! (Not *mustn’t have been*) 3. Must (= total obligation) is not a ‘complete verb’. We use had to in the past: The meeting was at 10 this morning and I had to be there. (Not *must have been*) 4. The negative of had to is didn’t have to: It was a holiday yesterday, so I didn’t have to be at work. (Not *mustn’t have been*) 71
Page 1 and 2:
The sentence A: Sentence word order
Page 3 and 4:
Verb + object + ‘to’ + noun or
Page 5 and 6:
Noun clause derived from questions
Page 7 and 8:
3. In sentences like: Our new secre
Page 9 and 10:
Adverbial clauses of purpose with
Page 11 and 12:
t 2. We sometimes use the past part
Page 13 and 14:
Apostrophe s(‘s) or compound noun
Page 15 and 16:
E. Number (singular and plural) (1)
Page 17 and 18:
3. We still have a few male and fem
Page 19 and 20: Articles A. The indefinite article:
Page 21 and 22: ‘The’ to refer to things that a
Page 23 and 24: 2. Zero for: countries (Turkey), st
Page 25 and 26: C. ‘It’ and ‘one/some/any/non
Page 27 and 28: 2. Verbs such as get up, sit down,
Page 29 and 30: Quantity A. Quantifiers + countable
Page 31 and 32: ‘Not …any’, ‘no’ and ‘n
Page 33 and 34: ‘None of’ and ‘neither of’
Page 35 and 36: Adjectives A. Formation of adjectiv
Page 37 and 38: D. Adjectives after ‘be’, ‘se
Page 39 and 40: Adverbs A. Adverbs of manner Adverb
Page 41 and 42: ‘During’, in’ and ‘for’ 1
Page 43 and 44: F. Intensifiers ‘Very’, ‘too
Page 45 and 46: 2. If we begin a sentence with a
Page 47 and 48: B. Prepositions of movement and pos
Page 49 and 50: D. Particular prepositions, particl
Page 51 and 52: E. Particular prepositions, particl
Page 53 and 54: d. Please put these dishes away. (a
Page 55 and 56: 4. There are five groups of stative
Page 57 and 58: 4. Repeated actions with e.g. alway
Page 59 and 60: G. The simple future tense Some use
Page 61 and 62: The future-in-the-past Sometimes we
Page 63 and 64: Be, Have, Do A. ‘Be’ as a full
Page 65 and 66: There are some children at the door
Page 67 and 68: Compare: Have you/Do you have/Have
Page 69: - present form: He must be right. H
Page 73 and 74: 4. We may use the past perfect of b
Page 75 and 76: 3. Had to shows that we couldn’t
Page 77 and 78: The form of ‘dare’ as a modal a
Page 79 and 80: The passive and the causative A. Ge
Page 81 and 82: ‘Get’ in the causative: ‘get
Page 83 and 84: I’ve seen no one/nobody. → I ha
Page 85 and 86: Parallel responses: ‘John can …
Page 87 and 88: G. Question-word questions (3): ‘
Page 89 and 90: 2. We use ever after all question-w
Page 91 and 92: B. Type 2 conditionals Type 2 condi
Page 93 and 94: Direct and indirect speech A. Direc
Page 95 and 96: Pronoun and adverb changes in indir
Page 97 and 98: The infinitive and the ‘-ing’ f
Page 99 and 100: ‘I know him to be an honest man
Page 101 and 102: ‘I can’t imagine my mother (‘
show all

The sentence

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?