In Tenses^x, Modal verbs^x

The pattern 'either of plural noun' doesn't go well with the present tense unless you have a modal verb. 1. Either of you could be right. Either of you might be right. 2. Either of the two answers will do. Both answers are correct. Each of the two answers is correct. 3. Either of these...

Yipes! My mistake-- confused by my own language! I thought we were discussing present tenses, and I thought read was pronounced /ri/ in your question. OK, in addition to my previous post; I will start...

When we talk about a subjunctive construction, I think it is easier to understand it without the 'inserted clause, I would think' becasue that way one can clearly see the cause-and-effect relationship beteween the conditional clause and the main clasue. 1. If someone tells you that you may...

Hello all, I am applying to take a CELTA course and they gave me an application task to do before I can enter the program. I am having some difficulty with some parts and was wondering if some one would be willing to help me. I use msn messanger under hpainter24@hotmail.com feel free to add me...

Hello K.O. That looks good - here's a little more detail: Clause 1 We - subject were spared - passive voice, past tense the storm's fury - noun phrase, object (the storm's - possessive; fury - direct object) Clause 2 but - coordinating conjunction now - adverb are having - modal verb,...

PASTEL wrote: MrP! How are you? I'm glad to see you again. Wow, how long did it take you to squeeze those examples? If I read it more than twice, I'm going to faint to the ground. I assure you, I will. I have a new question. Ready?! Tim ____ early before he reaches 65. He mentioned...

Hello td I'm not an expert or a student of linguistics. But we've had a few discussions about modals on this forum, and I've noticed three things: 1. Speakers of different dialects seem to respond differently to the same modal verb. 2. People's sense of 'tense' in modals seems to vary. I find...

Rule: Modal verbs (and "must" is one of them) cannot be followed by a past tense form. To express past tense after a modal add "have" and the past participle. This is not truly a "present perfect" but a "modal perfect". In the case of the modal perfect construction the difference between simple...

Rule: Modal verbs (and "must" is one of them) cannot be followed by a past tense form. To express past tense after a modal add "have" and the past participle. This is not truly a "present perfect" but a "modal perfect". In the case of the modal perfect construction the difference between...

Paco: Sounds your books are telling merely that some native speakers don't do always the tense backshift in direct-to-indirect speech conversion. But I don't take it as that those books are saying ESL students always have to follow that kind of speech made by grammatically illiterate native...