Hi, Philip, I was on the fence about it, so I avoided (I thought) any suggestion that your interpretation was wrong. The reason for my vacillation was the verb signify , which seemed to me unable to govern a subjunctive -- and yet -- ??? Had the

Thanks for chiming in, CJ. So, you think it's not a subjunctive form? I was merely speculating because it sounded like one to me.

I have read that the verb "need" can be used in modal form only in the present tense. That rings true for modern English, but I seem to recall that need, must, and dare used to be used as modals in the past in the past. Older: It

Hidden in this great 19th-Century prose is the subjunctive form, need , the reason for which I cannot identify right now. The subjunctive was used much more commonly at the time this was written. The subjunctive is the bare form of the infinitive,

Hello all, I have read that the verb "need" can be used in modal form only in the present tense. This makes me wonder in what tense it is in the following passage from "Jekyl and Hyde": «The letter was written in an odd,

As I have shown in my correction, 'could do' is fine. 'Could have done' sounds OK too. These are all fine in writing or speaking: I would be able to go / could go if I had a car I would not be be able to go / I could not go, even if I had a car.

Hi. Thank you. Would you kindly answer this question which I posed in my first post? I feel the verb (is this a verb anyway? Should I say a "verb form?) "could do" is better (correct?) but I am not sure why it couldn't be

Hi. John. Long time no see. You know what? I was with some friends at a hamburger shop yesterday and we made a bet: if I could eat three hamburgers in one sitting, I would not have to pay for the meal. Do you know what happened? I ate all three.

Hi. Would you find the underlined use of the modal verb "could" incorrect? Would you say it has to be the verb "was able to" (is this a verb anyway?) instead of the modal verb "could"? Also, would it be correct to use

So why is it wrong to say "will can"? There are different kinds of verbs. Some are called modal verbs. They are will, shall, can, would, should, could, may, might, and must . Only one modal verb can occur in a single clause, and it has