In Modals^x, Clauses^x, Articles^x

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...

Taka wrote: Remember, just because the modal verb 'would' appears in the main clause, this doesn't mean that the verb in the if clause must be in the subjunctive if the content of that clause is not presupposed to be false. The above is related to the following example sentence: ...

1. would is the modal used for the consequent clause of a conditional structure. If that suit were navy blue, I would buy it. If that suit were black with gray pin stripes, I would like it better. If it were gray, I would like that suit better. The condition ( if -clause) is implicit -...

Thank you to all those who have posted their suggestions to my little imagination game. Some have taken it very seriously thinking they would have to relearn English after the 'changes'. This was meant to be just a game, not for those wo take everything seriously, and of course in this game...

Thank you so much. In your answer, you wrote, "If the father literally calls her "Soccer Ball" as though it were a name, there is no article. I know that in the "if I/he/she/they + were" format, those clauses would be followed with the modal verb "would," but why did you use "were" in the...

Summarising: Three ways of looking at it. Extracts from the Geoffrey Leech article, " />English Grammar in Conversation . View 1: Spoken English has no grammar at all: it is grammatically inchoate. (That view) ...does not need to be taken seriously, although it is surprisingly persistent...