By Gerunds, Modal auxiliaries

Cool Breeze wrote:1) Leaving taps on and using too much water is very bad for the environment. (Easy, 2 gerunds right?) Right.2) Everyone should be recycling rubbish. Should is a modal auxiliary or a defective auxiliary as these verbs are also called. It is always followed by an infinitive. Be...

1) Leaving taps on and using too much water is very bad for the environment. (Easy, 2 gerunds right?) Right.2) Everyone should be recycling rubbish. Should is a modal auxiliary or a defective auxiliary as these verbs are also called. It is always followed by an infinitive. Be recycling is a...

Inchoateknowledge wrote:What does (simple) future tense mean in this sentence? The grammarian (it is a grammarian, isn't it?) you're quoting would probably tell you that there is no future tense. Many linguists claim English has only two tenses: Past and Non-past (sometimes called present)....

Just change it into "I must go" - then it's easier to analyze: "go" here is the full verb that is in its infinitive and follows the modal auxiliary must - without to! I have to go: "have to" is the substitute form for "must", "go" again is the full verb in its infinitive. "Have to" here is a...