In Expressions^x, English grammar^x, Modals^x

Let's spread out the issue a little bit: ____ O ____ Type 2. Basic forms . a. If we caught the 10 o'clock train, we would (could, might, etc.) get there by lunch-time. b. If I came into a fortune, I would give up smoking. c. If I knew how it worked, I could...

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...

Mary Ansell's on-line text, English Grammar: Explanations and Exercises , explains some of the differences among these auxiliaries: 3. Can and Could The modal auxiliary can is most often used in the Simple conjugation. The most important meaning of can and could is to be able to....

Hi Miriam, Actually "had better" is NOT a modal verb. Some authors call it a "modal idiom" (The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield), or a idiomatic modal. There are many English Grammar websites that talk about "had better" as a Modal Verb. For example: ...