By Numbers, Modals

Milky wrote:He has to go and He must go.> Well, I guess that would be part of the mastering part of the language - i.e. the complex part. It's easy for anyone to claim that English is not complex, or is much simpler than many other languages, if he/she avoids talking about mastering the...

Milky wrote:<To my mind, the articles are the trickiest part of English grammar> And modals?They are similar to other Germanic languages in structure and as there are only two infinitives in English (and in Swedish, for that matter), the modals or defective auxiliaries are very easy and...

Milky wrote: "I'd like to can swim" is ungrammatical. In English, modal auxiliaries like can and must are disallowed in infinitival clauses." That is a statement that is true of any variety of English with which I am familiar. Prescriptivists and descriptivists are often going to agree that...

Hello chaps,My head is spinning on this one. Gerunds should of course be easy but I think I'm having a spazzy block on this one. Please check out the following examples:1) Leaving taps on and using too much water is very bad for the environment. (Easy, 2 gerunds right?)2) Everyone should be...

Hi BrummelWelcome to the forums. Your reasoning regarding can and could is right, and what causes further problems is the fact that can has a number of meanings.He can play the piano can be put in the past by simply replacing can with could especially if the reference is to skill, ability or the...

Strictly speaking there are only two tenses, but the idea of tense is usually extended to include aspect and voice. Tenses: Present, Past. Aspects: Simple, Perfect, Progressive, Perfect Progressive Voices: Active, Passive Each tense can be expressed in all four aspect possibilities, so...

CalifJim wrote:Don't use at any given time when a modal such as can or could occupies the main clause. Use at any time instead. Purely observational. The distribution of the phrases at any time and at any given time seems to me to be connected with the use of modals, but the exact reason...

Sabyakgp wrote: Dear Friends, I would like to how "Would" can be used in future perfect as a modal verb. For Example. Analysts predicts that world population would have risen considerably by 2010. (Prediction can be wrong, so using "Would" instead of "Will" means this sentence is less...

Dear Friends, I would like to how "Would" can be used in future perfect as a modal verb. For Example. Analysts predicts that world population would have risen considerably by 2010. (Prediction can be wrong, so using "Would" instead of "Will" means this sentence is less directive than the below...

Alienvoord, I appreciate you're constructive criticism. Allow me to rebute:1) Comprehensible, yes. But many expressions are comprehensible even without being gramatically sound. The nuances I try to reveal in this post are to help you write better gramatically, not to sound or to write...