By Subjunctives, Modal auxiliaries

Lest 'tends to have a modal auxiliary or (esp in AmE) the present subjunctive' (Quirk, et al. 15.48)He was scared lest the corpse be / should be removed.

Cool Breeze wrote: Grammarian-bot wrote:Congress is debating a bill requiring certain employers to provide workers with unpaid leave so that they can care for sick or newborn children.I have a serious problem with deciding when to use prepositions before verbs and when not to. Any...

Grammarian-bot wrote:Congress is debating a bill requiring certain employers to provide workers with unpaid leave so that they can care for sick or newborn children.I have a serious problem with deciding when to use prepositions before verbs and when not to. Any help/suggestions.Hi GBThe to in...

HelloI have trouble explaining modal auxiliaries to German speakers.He must be drunk.to put this into the past = He must have been drunk. She should see the doctor.this into the past = she should have seen the doctor.But ....He can play the pianointo the past =? #1. he can have played the...

I am studying the verb "wish". It is often followed by a clause in the subjunctive mood. I wonder only state verbs can appear in the clause in the past form, while action verbs must be proceded by a modal auxiliary verb. I wish that I were a bird. (1) I wish that I flew. (2) I wish I...

Hellow Zewu I'm an English learner from Japan. I am afraid I don't know much about English enough to answer such questions as those you are asking. But allow me to put my two cents worth. First of all, let me define some grammatical terms. In English, people usually say 'subjunctive mood' for...

I can only add a little toward the answers to your questions. In general the modal auxiliaries are used to express not statements of fact but actions or events that exist only as conceptions of the mind -- possibilities, potentialities, necessities, wishes, whatever may or may not eventuate...

Not subjunctive, but a modal auxiliary. 'Need' can be used as either: Modal auxiliary -- 'He need not worry about anything during his stay on Paradise Island.' Main verb -- 'He does not need to worry about anything during his stay on Paradise Island.' They carry the same meaning. Your test...

Hi, thanks to Learner for making the difference clear to me too. May I simply add general information that I read just now? In grammar, a modal (short for modal auxiliary) is a verb such as can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, or would. A modal is used with another verb to...

I was a bit confused myself in the beginning becuase I thought that modals were just can, could; may, might; will, would; must; shall, should. These verbs are the "classical" modals, but every verb that expresses/describes the modus of a full verb is a modal verb: I may go e.g. means I have...