By Past tenses, Modal auxiliaries

Cool Breeze wrote:Hi Belly1) You could use to get as well. Both the full infinitive (to get) and the plain/bare infintive (get) are correct after do in sentences like yours. There is an old song All I Have To Do Is Dream. It could just as well be All I Have To Do Is To Dream. 2) Not one is...

Hi Belly1) You could use to get as well. Both the full infinitive (to get) and the plain/bare infintive (get) are correct after do in sentences like yours. There is an old song All I Have To Do Is Dream. It could just as well be All I Have To Do Is To Dream. 2) Not one is idiomatic and...

Jackson6612 wrote:Need sometimes behaves like a modal, for example 'She need know', 'She needn't know', or, in more formal English, 'She need not know'. Examples: 1: You needn't worry 2: Buying budget-priced furniture needn't mean compromising on quality or style... 3: Loneliness can be...

Kilimanjaro wrote: Hello Cool Breeze, This sentence is taken from Michael SWAN's Practical English Usage. He says "might" can be used in such contextsHi KilimanjaroYes, I know it's from that book. You mentioned it in a previous post. I didn't say it was right or wrong in my opinion. I said I...

Let's not forget that much formality in English is not based on word meanings. We also create fomality by using the past tense of verbs and what are traditionally called the past tense of modal auxiliaries.

Could is the past tense of can. These two words are among the many that form a class of MAV modal auxiliary verbs called the ‘pure’modals. AV’s (Auxiliary verbs) are helping verbs that help the main verbs to convey additional information. MAV’s are a type of AV. MAV’s help to convey shades of...

One such grammatical distinction causing much confusion is the use of the modal auxiliaries ‘may’ and ‘might’. When used in the present tense, the two modals are almost transposable, as the difference between the two is merely a very small degree of certainty. However, it has become common...

When he returns to Manhattan 1000 years later it has been destroyed and rebuilt three times 2 What

Jim wrote: I'm not sure anyone has actually compiled a set of "rules", but note that "could" often means "would be able to", so in a way "could" sometimes contains the meaning of "would" within it. "could" cannot always be paraphrased this way, but it very often can. I thought I could do it. =...

http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/auxiliary.htm#may Unless otherwise indicated, all written material on this Web site is the property of Professor Charles Darling and the Capital Community College Foundation and is published here for free use by the college's students and staff and for the...