talk about ability
can, could, be able to
avoid be able to : 1. sth happen as we speak 2. before passives(the film can be streamed online) 3. ‘‘know how to” (can you cook)
use be able to to talk about a single achievement
use could : 1. negative sentences 2. sense verbs - feel, hear, see, taste, smell, believe, remember, decide, understand 3. the only thing/place/time, all 4. almost, hardly, just,nearly
talk about possibility
- the theoretical possibility of sth happening use COULD
- sth is possible and actually happens CAN
- CAN’T to talk about sth impossible (theoretically or actually)
permission
COULD and BE ALLOWED TO
permission for one particular past action use WAS/WERE ALLOWED TO
could or was/were allowed to to talk about general ability to do sth
camp vocabulary
go camping in the north/south
find a place to camp in a field
assemble/put up/take down a tent
when do we use will/would?
- characteristic behavior : will(present) , would(past)
- things that are or were always true
- don’t use will/would for a particular occasion BUT use won’t/wouldn’t in either usual or particular occasion
- use will/would to criticise sb (she just won’t do the washing up when I ask her)
-use will to criticise people as WELL, IF YOU’LL …, … - repeated past events used to/would ; only would if time reference is clear; use used to when past states have changed
-would have +p.p. to talk about an imaginary past situation that might have happened but didn’t BUT will have+p.p. we think a past situation actually happened
might and may?
- similar meaning when we talk about possibility; however, use may in academic/formal language to talk about characteristic behavior and use might in informal language what we’ll possibly do in the future
- DON’t use may to ask questions abt the possibility of sth happening; use be likely to/could instead. It’s possibly to use might in these questions but it’s formal
use may in question to ask permission and offer help - may/might not + bare inf … but … OR may/might not have+p.p. … but… to talk abt a person/thing compensating for a limitation or weakness to some extent
- may/might have + p.p. or may/might+be+ing to talk about possible events the past, present and future COULD can be used ; may/might+have been +ing abt possible events in the past that went over a period of past time
talk about past with may/might
- might+bare inf. or could+bare inf. to describe the usual past case/situation(past ability)
must or have (got) to ?
must in rules, regulations and warnings , to propose a future arrangement such as a social event without making detailed plans(we must get together more often), I must to remind ourselves to do sth,
to draw a conclusion = sth in the past must have+p.p., sth happening around the time of speaking must be ing, sth likely to happen in the future must be ing/must be going to , a present situation must be or have go to be in informal speech
to draw a conclusion based on some present evidence = must have to , abt a past situation must’ve had to ( I can’t access the database, you must have to put in a password)
in questions that expect a negative answer we prefer have got to, although in formal context must is used ; use have to in questions that imply a criticism
have to or have got to ?
have to with frequency adverbs (often, always, never, rarely, sometimes), with the past simple in questions or negative sentences , don’t use have got to with other modals (will have to)
how do we use NEED?
- as an ordinary verb(i need to ) or as a modal verb ( need’t speak so)
as a modal verb it’s used in negative form : needn’t + bother, mean, apply, fear, worry, panic, concern, involve
in questions we prefer need as an ordinary verb or have to ( Need you go so soon?-formal//Do you need to go so soon?have to)
in affirmative sentences we use need as a modal rarely (need have no fear- in fiction)
Need is used in formal written English with negative words: hardly, only, never, nobody/no one (nobody need know/they need never find out)
to give permission we use needn’t or don’t need to, but in general necessity use don’t need to
needn’t or don’t have to to say it’s unnecessary to do sth( needn’t - when the speaker decides)
needn’t or don’t have to to say sth is not necessarily true (changes in technology needn’t be a problem)
force vocab
rules come into force/be in force, force of habit, a force to be reckoned with, be a significant/dominant/major/powerful force, economic/commercial force, force for change/good, feel the full force of, join/combine forces, force sth out of sb/force sb to do sth
should ought to
obligations, recommendations, probability
when we draw a conclusion on the basis of some evidence we have, we use !must!
we prefer should when we say what an outside authority recommends sth( the manual says the computer should be disconnected from the power supply), should/would to give advice with I, we prefer should in questions
use should/ought to have+p.p. to talk abt sth that didn’t happen in the past and we are sorry it didn’t ALSO to talk about an expectation that sth has happened or will happen
should/shall
in questions that are offers or require confirmation or advice(who should i pass the message to?)
shall = i intend, i should = i ought to
ways to say that we think sth is a good idea
had better, should, ought to
but don’t use had better in the past/to make general comments
had better not(had we better?)
