In Modal verbs^x, Tenses^x

That book is right. Modal verbs can be assigned to any time past, present or future. See some of the previous threads on could/can: http://www.englishforums.com/search/could%2bcan.htm

could evolve and could adaptIn that case, you definitely want adapt, not adapted. Modal verbs (and could is one of them) are not followed by past tense or past participle forms. CJ

It was thought (by many) to have been written by Michael.In the above sentence: ''It'' is used as a subject.''was'' is an auxiliary verb showing simple past tense and ''thought'' is a past participle serving the function of the main verb with reference to some past action. ''to have been'', as CB...

Hmm...But why can't I use "any longer" in this case or it's using only in negative way ? And how I understand it's impossible to use can with future tenses and it's implied that "can" relate to present and future, isn't it? If I say : "How can I work hereafter?" Will it be correct?

Linguists often consider endings when determining the number of tenses in a language. The English verb can only take two forms from the viewpoint of tense endings: present: talks and past: talked. The future is formed by adding an extra verb (the modal verb will) in front of the verb --...

In the early Church, Christians would celebrate the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ (known as the saint's "birth day") by serving an All-Night Vigil, and then celebrating the Eucharist over their tomb or place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses began to transfer...

Google counts, if you trust them: he isn't 2,240,000 he's not 1,910,000 I would not consider this a significant difference. I imagine the others that use the present tense of to be are about the same proportionally. With modal verbs, however, the cases where the word not is isolated...

Neeraj Jain wrote:Hi Maris, If I have just one sentence: I could play tennis well. can it be used to refer to the present tense?Strictly speaking, only to conditional future (or past, of course). See my examples above. Some see that as kind of a present.

Hi Maris, If I have just one sentence: I could play tennis well. can it be used to refer to the present tense?

CalifJim wrote:After "mental" verbs in the past tense use the past tense or the past of a modal verb (e.g., would, might, could) I late. CJ As I have said, I would also use the past tense here, but I wasn't sure about the possibility of using the present tense. And then I came across...