ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: grammar about the verb "to suggest"

Marius Hancu — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:04:19 GMT

This is a proper example where may/can/ought to are all OK:

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The evidence suggests he should hit at least 35 homers per season for years to come.

Re: grammar about the verb "to suggest"

Marius Hancu — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:56:42 GMT

Bokeh's sentences

Someone keeps peeing on the back fence. The evidence suggests that he may be the one who does it.

are OK, but I don't think they correspond to the original one

the evidence suggests that he (should) be the one who does it

that I think should be anyway modified and clarified.

Re: grammar about the verb "to suggest"

Bokeh — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:55:05 GMT

Seraphin
can we say
a) "the evidence suggests that he MAY be the one who does it" ?

b) "the evidence suggests that he CAN be the one who does it" ?

c) "the evidence suggests that he IS the one who does it" ?

B doesn't work for me. It would work with COULD, but not CAN. Someone else might see it differently though.

A & C seem ok but see the note in the posts above about past and present.

Re: grammar about the verb "to suggest"

Marius Hancu — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:51:00 GMT

Ray is right about the tenses. A more normal context would be:

He suggests that she (should) be the one who does it.

should be or be

are subjunctives implying an obligation ("ought to") and cannot be replaced by the verbs you suggested.

This is the so-called putative should. Do some searches for it (top right Search box on this page), there are many threads on it. Read some of them.

Re: grammar about the verb "to suggest"

Bokeh — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:50:29 GMT

RayH
It seems to me that in all of these examples "does" should be replaced with "did".

Not if it is a repeated action. For example:

Someone keeps peeing on the back fence. The evidence suggests that he may be the one who does it.

Re: grammar about the verb "to suggest"

RayH — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:20:15 GMT

Seraphin
I seem to recall such a rule in the English grammar (using the example to illustrate it)

example: the evidence suggests that he (should) be the one who does it.
but can we say
a) "the evidence suggests that he MAY be the one who does it" ?
b) "the evidence suggests that he CAN be the one who does it" ?
c) "the evidence suggests that he IS the one who does it" ?

It seems to me that in all of these examples "does" should be replaced with "did". After all, evidence is only gathered after some event. With that correction, out of the four suggested words only "may" and "is" would strike me as correct.

grammar about the verb "to suggest"

Seraphin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:10:16 GMT

IÂ seem to recall such a rule in the English grammar (using the example to illustrate it)

example: the evidence suggests that he (should) be the one who does it.

but can we say

a) "the evidence suggests that he MAY be the one who does it" ?

b) "the evidence suggests that he CAN be the one who does it" ?

c) "the evidence suggests that he IS the one who does it" ?Â