By Modals, Clauses

Hi, i have some questions on the subject of present unreal conditionals and hope you would be able to help me. 1. I would play chess more if I didn't listen to pop music so much. If the sentence had the word 'had' in the 'if' clause, then I would have considered it a second...

It's not subjunctive. It's the modal use of need. Modal need can occur in non-assertive contexts. Modals never take the s in the first person singular of the present tense the way non-modal verbs do. In that way they resemble subjunctive forms, which are also missing the s. The...

The list isn't meant to be exhaustive or carefully arranged. Any additions, corrections or further examples would be welcomed. 1 main verbs; lexical verbs (all verbs which are not auxiliaries or modals) 2 action verbs; event verbs; dynamic verbs (a verb which can be used in...

You can use the full form, the 'pro' form, or just the pronoun. In the last case, note that isolated subject pronouns after than are often expressed as object pronouns in informal situations. The 'pro' form is the echo of the operator (modal or auxiliary) -- do if the first...

Hello, Dr. E.T. Babalola! I'm still uncertain of the third example you've given here. Are you fully convinced that the italicised part of the third example is a non-finite clause? As I know, clauses can be divided into two kinds, namely finite clauses and non-finite clauses. The distinguishing...

Cool Breeze wrote:Hi Belly1) You could use to get as well. Both the full infinitive (to get) and the plain/bare infintive (get) are correct after do in sentences like yours. There is an old song All I Have To Do Is Dream. It could just as well be All I Have To Do Is To Dream. 2) Not one is...

Hi Belly1) You could use to get as well. Both the full infinitive (to get) and the plain/bare infintive (get) are correct after do in sentences like yours. There is an old song All I Have To Do Is Dream. It could just as well be All I Have To Do Is To Dream. 2) Not one is idiomatic and...

There's no modal idea there. Go back a few posts. There I point out that anyone as the subject of a clause often occurs with a modal verb suggesting possibility or potential. She believes anyone could have a special gift. She believes anyone can answer the question. She believes that...

Any time you use a so that clause to explain why some action was taken, to explain the intent of the action, use will (or some other modal verb with a present viewpoint) if the main clause is in the present, and use would (or some other modal verb with a past viewpoint) if the main clause is in...

Yankee wrote:Yes, Taka, that's how I see it. Thank you, Amy! Marius Hancu wrote:I see where Yankee's coming from and there's some argument for it, but the would at the end of the sentence is decisive, IMO: it's subjunctive because it's a hypothetical situation: MH,For your information: ...