In Modal verbs^x, Conversations^x

Believer wrote: My try: Hi, 1. I think the modal verb 'could' could be used as a past form of the modal verb 'can' and the modal verb 'would' can be used to express the sense of past-ness. Yes. Can you tell me if these uses are correct? When I was fifeen years old, I could do many push-ups....

Hi, 1. I think the modal verb 'could' could be used as a past form of the modal verb 'can' and the modal verb 'would' can be used to express the sense of past-ness. Can you tell me if these uses are correct? When I was fifeen years old, I could do many push-ups. Now, if I ask someone about his...

Hi Sabyakgp, As Nona rightly points out, in your first example the modal verb "would" is used to express how the described conditions are related to a previous decision taken by his minders. But while Nona interprets the would as expressing uncertainty about what actually happened, I am more...

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...

Paco: By the way I have a feeling that English 'now' (in the linguistic sense, not in the physical sense) is not instantaneous, but it seems to occupy some span in the time that flows from the past to the future. Otherwise I cannot understand the usage of the present progressive tense. JTT: I...

JTT: "The possibility started yesterday. It therefore started in the past." But it has not come to fruition. It can have no past tense because nothing has past, ie. nothing has finished. How curious. A possibility has no past? Maybe I misremembered the conversation with Casi: Casi: I hear you...

You and your classmate don't seem to have any standard by which both of you agree to measure influence. Will it be the number of words related to each? Will it be the most frequently used words? The most frequently used words in everyday conversation? The most frequently used words in formal...

Some words, not only verbs, that are used a lot in speaking, have one weak sound and one strong sound. Weak forms are used in 'connected speech', that is, when you are having a normal, everyday conversation or when they are in the middle of a sentence. For example, the weak form of the verb...

hi bubu - I've been away for a few days.. I guess you just want this proof-reading? I don't think it needs much alteration. I'm assuming it is meant to serve as a book-review? I've made suggested alterations and annotated them in brackets. "This is one of those books intended to while away a...