In Modals^x, American English^x

it seems that a few American English speakers do not distinguish between those uses Actually, the subjective/objective distinction is of extremely little importance to American speakers. Typically "must" is used as an epistemic modal almost exclusively in ordinary conversation, and...

Milky wrote: Anonymous wrote:In the sentence, "She has to eat salad every day," would "has to" be a helping verb for the action verb "eat?" Initially "to eat" looks like an infinitive, but isn't "has to" another way of saying "must," which would make it a helping verb? Thanks! "Have/has/had...

Anonymous wrote:In the sentence, "She has to eat salad every day," would "has to" be a helping verb for the action verb "eat?" Initially "to eat" looks like an infinitive, but isn't "has to" another way of saying "must," which would make it a helping verb? Thanks! "Have/has/had (to)" is not a...

Can he be working at this time? No, he can't. Can he be working at this time? Yes, he __. Which modal verb should I use to fill in the blank?

Final observation: The recommendations above are based on American English, but I would not be surprised if they were valid for all other varieties of English as well. In everyday conversation in American English, the "M"-modals (may, might, must) are almost exclusively the ones used for logical...

Based on what I hear daily, I would like to make a recommendation or two. If you start with these first and master them, expanding out into the additional meanings will be less of a problem than if you try to learn all possible meanings at once, which can get somewhat confusing. 1a. Use "must"...

1. Use of present perfect tense and simple past tense Speakers of American English generally use the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle) far less than speakers of British English. In spoken American English it is very common to use the simple past tense as an alternative in...

Re: The tenseless modals verbs of English Posted: 13/02/2005 09:52 PM JTT wrote: Every modal verb in English can operate in past, present and future situations. Modals carry modal meaning into sentences, they do not carry tense. "operate", yes. I agree. Both statements are true. I trust...

So, what would a brit psychologist say (in a way that keeps all the a), b) and c) nuances)? I repeat the base sentence is "Don't you think you might / not follow (look at the slash: not "might not / follow") that excitement?". Of course, you may change the words with something better. What I'm...

Dear Jim, I have a very big problem. I' m not sure if the following sentences are correct.. I know that the wish structure requires a simple past, usually were, had and modals such as could. But what happen if I need to use other verbs such as go, buy and so on; Is it possible to say I wish I...