Search results for 'tag:Modals tag:Articles' matching tags 'Modals' and 'Articles'

Re: Definite article needed?

AlpheccaStars — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 04:39:43 GMT

Anonymous
A student uses scissors to cut (the) paper.

You should be consistent with the articles: Here are some natural variations:

The student uses scissors to cut the paper. >> A specific student is cutting some specific paper.

Students use scissors to cut paper. >> In general, people who are students cut paper with scissors.

The student uses scissors to cut paper. >> The emphasis is on the fact that scissors, and not something else, is used for the purpose of cutting paper.

A student may use scissors to cut paper. >> Indefinite article (meaning any student) used with modal verb.

A student may use scissors to cut the paper. >> Indefinite article used with modal verb, but now referencing some specific paper.

Modal "would": ellipted use

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:17:26 GMT

Hi, In a thread named "question on adjective and one more", AlpheccaStars wrote this as part of his response:

call for a combined results and discussion.- -> delete the indefinite article ("a") It is hard to determine if it this phrase would be correct in a larger context, though.

Does the part "It is hard to determine if it this phrase would be correct in a larger context, though." show an ellipted use of the modal "would"?

How about this? Same ellipted use of the modal "would"? Can I construe it as a weaker form of the modal "will" eventhough it could be thought of as what I call an ellipted sentence? Possibility showing less certainty than the modal "will"?

I don't know if he would do it. -- ellipted part possibly being "if you asked me"?

Also, is this possible?

If you would wish her to love you, care for her.

What types of phrase have been underlined?

ericsteef — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:45:46 GMT

I answered this question i just need someone check my answer and tell me if there a mistake and what is the correction of it.

What types of phrase have been underlined? Analyse the phrases and give information about what elements they contain and what sort of words they consist of.

Hercule Poirot made his first appearance in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Participial Phrase called upon by his friend Hastings, to solve a most mysterious murder. This Belgian refugee from the First World War began his career as a police officer - Christie felt it only fitting that he had a professional background as it would explain his knowledge of police proceedings when he later became a private detective. He began his private career on the continent, which is where he formed his lifelong friendship with Hastings.

Poirot would be the first to call himself a great man - he has never been known for his modesty - but with such success in his career he is quite justified in his opinion! He finishes each case with a dramatic dÃ©nouement, satisfying his own ego and confirming to all, that he is truly âthe greatest mind in Europe.â His love of elegance, beauty, and precision, as well as his eccentric mannerisms are often ridiculed by the local bumbling policemen, but it is always Poirot who has the last word!

Christie's inspiration for Poirot lay behind the Belgian refugees who had escaped the war and made their home in the Parish of Torre. Christie had seen how the locals had opened their arms to them and how some, not understanding the British way of life, preferred to do things their own way. Christie decided to make Poirot more mature, a decision she would later regret; âthe result is that my fictional detective is well over a hundred by now.â

But not even Christie could ever have imagined how popular Poirot would become, nor how many stories she would write about him. He would star in thirty-three novels and fifty-four short stories, including some of Christieâs best such as Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Death on the Nile.

Poirot deserves his place in crime fiction history and this was certainly achieved on his death in 1975; Poirot became the only fictional character in history to be honoured with an obituary on the front of The New York Times!

(Adapted from the official Agatha Christie page (http://uk.agathachristie.com)

a professional background:

it is NP âaâ is indefinite article function as determiner.âProfessionalâ is adjective,â

a professionalâ is a premodifier of the noun phrase, âbackground âis the head noun of the noun phrase.

2-Christie's inspiration for Poirot :

it is NP âChristieâsâ is noun of the noun phrase form functions as Premodifier ,â inspirationâ the head noun of the noun phrase âfor Poirotâ i

2-Christie's inspiration for Poirot :

it is NP âChristieâsâ is noun of the noun phrase form functions as Premodifier ,â inspirationâ the head noun of the noun phrase âfor Poirotâ is Prep: P âforâ preposition âPoirotâ noun and all the phrase âfor Poirotâ is the postmodifeir of the noun phrase.

3-More mature:

adjective phrase in its comparative form consists of âmoreâ determiner function as premodifier of the adjective phrase and âmatureâ adjective is the head of the adjective phrase.

Could have imagined:

verb phrase consists of, âcouldâ modal auxiliary verb, âhaveâ grammatical auxiliary, imagined stative verb in past participle form and all the phrase in the present perfective tense.

In thirty-three novels:

prepositional phrase consists of preposition âinâ,â thirty three" Post determinerâ âNovelsâ is the head noun of the noun phrase.

Re: FORM

AlpheccaStars — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:36:50 GMT

1) Where are you? I've been waiting for 2 hours

2) I needn't have brought that milk

I = subject

need have bought = verb; present perfect tense, modal form (need is the auxiliary), buy is the main verb, bought is the past participle.

not - adverb

that - demonstrative pronoun refering to milk

milk - noun,object of the verb buy

3) He played truant

He - subject

play - verb, simple past tense

truant - predicate noun ? (To be precise, I would have to look in a dictionary to see if "play" is transitive or intransitive in this case.

4) I stopped to give my friend a lift

I = subject
stopped - verb, simple past

to give my friend a lift - infinitive phrase, adverb, modifying "stop"., "to give" is the infinitive head of the phrase

my friend - my is personal pronoun modifying freind, friend, noun, indirect object of the verbal, give

a lift - a = article, modifyinglift. Lift is noun, direct object of the verbal, give

5) I stopped giving my friend a lift
I = subject
stopped - verb, simple past
giving my friend a lift - gerund phrase, direct object of verb "stop". giving is the gerund head of the phrase

The other teachers can critique this analysis.

Re: Lack of emphasis on NPs in ESL

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:39:51 GMT

>>It is not difficult at all for me to use conditional structures (= modal verbs) in polite requests, like in "Could you lend me 1,000 dollars?", because very similar structures are used the same way in Italian too. <<

And do they omit articles in Italian?

"Could you lend me a 1,000 dollars?",

Re: if disclosure would...

wingedfish — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:22:19 GMT

I agree with you, and your explanations clarified the situation here. Thank you very much. But there is still one thing left. I am not sure what the article "it" refers in the orginal sentence "if it would harm a continuting investigation". Does it refer to the "affidavit' or "disclosure"? And how can I understand the modal usage WOULD in this second condtiion? Is it the same with the first condition?

tense analysis

Anonymous — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:31:00 GMT

Hi,

For these sentences from the article, "Putting Pressure in Its Place", by Ruth Bell Graham, in ChristianitToday magazine, would please confirm my analysis?

I had no sooner gotten started when I got word that a Chinese pastor and his wife I had been permitted to call on in China had been reimprisoned by the antitheistic regime because of something I had said to them. I placed a call to a nearby office, only to have the rumor confirmed (later found false).

This is taking the storyline to the past -- with Mrs. Graham talking about things from the a past point of time. What I have difficulty with is what I see as inadequacy in the English language to properly indicate past before the "double-time" past. Let me try to explain what I mean by that:

Here in the copy of the quote:

1) I had no sooner gotten started 2) when I got word that a Chinese pastor and his wife 3) I had been permitted to call on in China 4) had been reimprisoned by the antitheistic regime because of something 5) I had said to them. I placed a call to a nearby office, only to have the rumor confirmed (later found false).

To me, No. 1's use of past perfect sets the action to the time before some event and no.2's use of past tense shows her getting word is not in the time a factor in the time line -- if it had been a factor, then she would have used a past perfect here too.

Nos 3 and 4 are inadequate in that what happened before what or what happened after what is not clear with two uses of past perfect, and this lack of differentiation is further exacerbated -- that is how I see it -- by one more use of past perfect, marked as no. 5.

I think Mrs. Graham's sentence doesn't concern with this differentiation either because she intended not to or could not, due to what I think it the absence of a tense or tenses to go double or triple back in time for an action or an event that took or happened.

The same observation can be made for the use of modal "would/could/might have been': The modals can take an action or event triple-back in time.

Re: Questions on sentences in article

Susankay — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:32:29 GMT

When we talk with biblical precision about the resurrection, we discover an excellent foundation for lively and creative Christian work in the present world--not, as some suppose, for an escapist or quietist piety.

Here, the word 'piety' seems to be uncountable, yet seems that the article 'an' is for that. Why? This is a general question but "Can a person use an indefinite article like 'a' when he thinks an instance of something or a type of something in his mind? I think it should be "or for quietist piety.'

No single individual can attempt more than a fraction of this mission. That's why mission is the work of the whole church, the whole time. Paul's advice to the Philippians ~~even though he and they knew they were suffering for their faith and might be tempted to retreat from the world into a dualistic, sectarian mentality~~was upbeat. Might just means "there was the possibility for them to be tempted"

Here, I think it is right to say that in 'might be tempted', the 'might' is used to convey the sense of the past, putting his indecisive intention in the past-time setting; but I think it is safe to say that the word 'might' can be used the same or similarly in the present-time setting. But here, I think it is used in the in the past-time setting. I think you can see a similar use with the modal verb 'would'.

It is the anticipation of the time when God will fill the earth with his glory, transform the old heavens and earth into the new, and raise his children from the dead to populate and rule over the redeemed world he has made.

Here, I think 'he has made' is used because eventhough the reference is to what was made a very, very long time ago, the happening carries a current relevance to what the writer is tryng to say and that is why the present perfect was used. Right? Why do I see 'heavens' in plural, not 'heaven' in singular? The redeemed world he has made - yes it denote present perfect.

This is another question: Can you use a present perfect to refer to a historical figure who happened to live very, very long ago or his legacy?

Yes, if your believe that historical figure is God who lived, is living and will live forever.

Questions on sentences in article

Believer — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:49:28 GMT

Hi,

I gotthe following sentences from the ChristianToday magazne, a magazine of evangelical conviction, by N.T. Wright on March 25, 2008, and hope you would answer some questions on them.

This is another question: Can you use a present perfect to refer to a historical figure who happened to live very, very long ago or his legacy?

Sorry for many questions

Verbs

ganesh77 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:38:41 GMT

The list isn't meant to be exhaustive or carefully arranged. Any additions, corrections or further examples would be welcomed.

1 main verbs; lexical verbs (all verbs which are not auxiliaries or modals)

2 action verbs; event verbs; dynamic verbs (a verb which can be used in continuous tenses) i.e. eat, run, talk

3 state of being verbs; existence verbs; state verbs; stative verbs; static verbs (a verb which describes a state and is not usually used in a continuous tense) i.e. be, own, know

4 regular verbs (a verb that has four forms and follows the normal rules)

5 irregular verbs; strong verbs (a verb not following the normal rules for inflection)

6 auxiliary and modal verbs (which make up verbal phrases) â 23 in total

7 linking verbs; copulative verbs; copulas (a verb which links the subject and complement of a clause) i.e. It is warm today.

8 transitive verbs (a verb used to talk about an action or event that involves more than one person or thing, and so is followed by an object) i.e. Sheâs wasting her money.

9 intransitive verbs (a verb used to talk about an action or event that only involved the subject and so has no object) i.e. She arrived.

10 multiword verbs

a type 1 â intransitive [phrasal verbs; adverb particle

b type 2 â transitive (inseparable) [prepositional verbs; preposition particles]

c type 3 â transitive (separable) [phrasal verbs; adverb particle]

d type 4 â transitive (with two inseparable particles) [phrasal-prepositional verbs; first particle is an adverb, second particle is a preposition]

11 compound verbs

12 delexical verbs (a verb which has very little meaning in itself but is used with an object to describe an action) i.e. She gave a small cry.

13 ditransitive verbs (a verb which can have both a direct and indirect object) i.e. She gave me a kiss.

14 ergative verbs (a verb which can be used transitively to focus on the performer of the action, or intransitively to focus on the thing affected by the action) i.e. He boiled the water. The water boiled.

15 reporting verbs; performance verbs; performative verbs (a verb used with a quote or a reported clause to describe what people say or think) i.e. suggest, say, wonder

16 reciprocal verbs (a verb which describes an action involving two people doing the same thing to each other) i.e. They met in the street.

17 reflexive verbs (a verb which is typically used with a reflexive pronoun) i.e. Donât cut yourself with that knife.

18 defective verbs (a verb without all the inflected forms of a regular verb) i.e. modals

19 finite and non-finite

a infinitives

b gerunds; verbal nouns

c participles

20 catenative verbs (a verb that takes other verb forms as objects; found at the head of a series of linked constructions) i.e. We agreed to try to decide to stop eating snacks.

21 causative verbs (a verb that designates the action necessary to cause another action to happen) i.e. The devil made me do it.