By Modals, Intonations

Aaaargh! Is it really so different in English? I'm going to go crazy if I have to be careful of this difference too. I've never paid attention to this.GG wrote: >>You are assuming that what you want will be given to you, not politely requesting it.So do negative questions always sound like...

Why didn't you take it? There was no one around! 1 - You have stolen it!<-- You had a chance to steal it, you had the ability to steal it, you were allowed to steal it, but you didn't. were allowed is a less probable paraphrase. An additional paraphrase is You should have stolen it. Why...

MrPedantic wrote: Yes they are similar, but... When you want to say that it is required something to be done regularly you use have to He has to do his homework after school every day. Cf. however 1. You must take three of these pills every day after lunch. Yes but in this case it is the...

I am trying to formulate guidelines for learners of English as a foreign language with regards the use of may/might/could to express possibility. It seems to me that you can use these three modals (almost) interchangeably when expressing possibility. For example, 'Where's Mary?' 'I'm not sure....

Thanks JTT, You're welcome, Hela. Hela: I was going to suggest : d) I WILL HAVE TO get their breakfast (you accepted that one) and I’ll d) be obliged to get their breakfast soon. JJT: My read on BrE suggests that 'must' is more likely here but for NaE, 'have to' is much...