By Tenses, Modals

"a form of the past tense" doesn't make sense to me. There is only one form of the past tense. I think you mean "a past tense form".Here are the forms of the modals. (Recall that this does not mean that they are used only in these tenses.)Present: will, shall, can,...

In some cases this is possible, but not in general. You would typically have some sort of modal verb there.I'm sorry you are leaving us so soon.I'm sorry you have to have such a serious operation next month.I'm sorry you can't attend the party tonight. CJ

Let us recast the sentence in direct speech, that is, you are speaking to Mark, "When you arrive (simple present tense is most suitable here - I wonder you can use any other tense), we shall/will go out for dinner."When you turn that into an indirect speech, the sentence will become,...

Hi again, Thank you so much again.Here,Your correction:"If John comes home about an hour later, he will be looking for me to play chess with him and when he finds out I am not there, he will be disappointed," I think. Do you have a question about this? Yes,but does it have to be...

Thank you so much again.Here,Your correction:"If John comes home about an hour later, he will be looking for me to play chess with him and when he finds out I am not there, he will be disappointed," I think. Do you have a question about this? Yes,but does it have to be "will"?...

Are they wrong since the modal usages lack the fundamental conditional uses of the modals 'would' and 'could'? Not sure what you're asking. The correct sequence of tenses applies to conditionals as well as to non-conditionals. 1. We are all watching in a sort of stunned...

Hi,Are all sentences that have if-clauses and the main clauses with the modal 'would' second conditional? I think not. Mr. Wordy wrote these sentences in his replay to a question that dealt with a quote.I would call something "a quote" or "a quotation" only if it was...

Hi,1. Let us say this was in quotation marks. How would you validate the use of the underlined tense?The people who built houses; their walls have crumbled, as if they had never been!2. TWO more questions:Does 'as if' in normal sentential situations mean the same as 'if', like...

Would you mind if ... ? takes the past tense with present meaning.In fact, other patterns like it also take the past tense.Would you regret it if you left now?Would you be sorry if Jack went without you?This is the "second conditional" (in question form).CJ

Sentence A. Would you mind if we left now? (ICAL online modals-requests)Hello,Why does the question uses the past tense 'left' instead of 'leave'?Thank you.With best wishes.