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U20, Attitudes, Semi-modals, Main Factors of usage, COULD, MIGHT, WOULD,…

- - - - Progressive aspect
        
        Involves the use of the auxiliary BE & the –ing form of the lexical verb
        
        Used when the speaker wants to express the duration of the action/event rather than the moment when the action happens
        
        Also, to express that sth is/was/will be already in progress when sth else happens/ed (contrast)
        
        Past continuous
        
        Formed with the past tense forms of BE (was, were) & the –ing form (present participle) of the lexical verb
        
        Expresses the context of narration, in contrast with the simple past, which indicates a more concrete point in time
        
        "I was walking down the street, when I came across my best friend"
        
        Future continuous
        
        Formed with WILL/SHALL (or the contraction ‘ll) + BE in its base form & the –ing form (present participle) of the lexical verb
        
        Expresses a future action where the speaker wants to state the duration of the action stated by the simple verb
        
        "I’ll be working when you get home"
        
        Present continuous
        
        Formed with the present tense forms of BE (am, is are) & the -ing form (present participle) of the lexical verb
        
        Expresses an action which is being carried out at the moment of speaking
        
        "I’m studying for a very important exam"
        
        Temporary, in progress at a particular time, not necessarily completed
      - Passive voice
        
        The Object of an action becomes the Subject of the passive clause, using the structure:
        Subject + Auxiliary verb "be" + Past Participle (of the lexical verb)
        
        It can be done with almost any tense in English, but it is seldom used with state verbs (know, think...)
        
        We often identify passive construction by using agents with prepositions "by" (by-phrase)
  - - - Used with the base form of a Lexical Vb in present & past tense:
        
        Negative: I do not (don’t) want to go to the cinema tonight
        
        Interrogative: Did you go to the cinema last weekend?
        
        Emphatic: I’m telling you! I do believe in ghosts.
        
        Substitute: - I went to see her at the hospital. - Yes, I did too (as a substitute for a lexical verb or clause predicate)
        
        General confusions among students of ESL:
        
        It can be used in any tense, present or past, but never in the future
        
        In the 3rd person singular of the present simple "do" becomes "does", a fact that a great number of learners tend to forget
        
        The fact that Aux V do is the same as Lexical V do in form: "What do you do?" (aux, lexical)
  - - - Perfective aspect
        
        a finished/completed action in the past, present or future
        
        Involves the use of the auxiliary HAVE/ HAS & the -ed form (past participle) of the lexical verb
        
        Present perfect
        
        Indicates (1) the whole period of time from a point in the past till now or (2) the time change happened between an unspecified point in the past & now
        
        "I have lived in London for two years"
        
        "The flights have changed the time"
        
        Past perfect
        
        Indicates a connection between a point in the past & a former point (a past within the past)
        
        "I had done it just before I went to the shop"
        
        Future perfect
        
        Indicates a relationship between the time when we started an action and a point in the future (a past in the future which has not yet happened)
        
        "By tomorrow, I will have spent more than 1000 Euros"
  - - - As lexical verbs:
        
        They were very good players indeed.
        
        I really need to do a lot of homework today
        
        I would like to have my dinner, please.
  - - - It takes the auxiliary DO for negative & interrogative (You don’t do it properly/Do you do it properly?)
        
        Transitive verb
        
        "Let’s do the washing up"
    - - It keeps its auxiliary pattern (He is nice; he isn’t nice; is he nice?). Two functions, as a:
        
        Intransitive verb
        
        "She is in the office"
        
        Copulative verb
        
        "She is a nurse", "She's very intelligent"
        (with an attributive complement)
    - - It may be conjugated in either way (You haven’t a house/You don’t have a house/Have you (got) a house?/Do you have a house?)
        
        Transitive verb
        
        "He has no idea"
- - - - Meaning where syntactic & morphological levels do not tell the difference (the different types of usages/meanings)
    - - Choice between the different types of verbs: primary, modals, semi-modals, semi-auxiliaries...
    - - How to place aux & modal verbs in a sentence to constitute grammatical strings (verb phrase structure)
    - - How to pronounce these types of verbs (strong & weak forms, contractions)
    - - How to form auxiliary verbal structures (can, could, be able to)
  - - - Open-class
        
        Lexical Vbs (full/main/ordinary verbs)
        
        Carry the essential meaning & can stand on their own (are independent). They denote actions, events & states
      - Closed-class
        
        Primary aux Vbs (do, have, be) & Modal aux Vbs (can, could, may, might, shall, will, would, must, should)
        
        Primary: add extra information to the lexical verb
        
        Modal: express a specific modality/attitude from the speaker's perspective
      - involved
  - - - 1) Are both Finite & Non-finite (to-infinitive, -ing/-ed participle)
        
        2) Show concord (is/are/am, have/has, do/does)
        
        3) Syntactically, may occur in initial but also in middle position (after a modal)
        
        4) Not exclusive (can be combined to make perfective/progressive forms)
        
        DO is invariably finite, only occurs initially & does not occur with other Auxs
        
        Non-finite & not exclusive:
        
        to be / is being / has been
        
        to have / is having / has had
        
        *to may / is maying / has mayed
        
        Position within the verb phrase:
        "I am working hard" (initial)
        "I have been working hard" (middle)
        "You will have finished" (middle)
      - (be & have)
    - - 1) Followed by a bare-infinitive
        
        2) No 3rd p. singular person & number concord
        
        3) Are only Finite (showing tense, aspect, mood & voice)
        
        4) Syntactically, invariably occur in initial position in the verb phrase
        
        5) Mutually exclusive (cannot be combined with other modals)
        
        *"She can to sing / She to can sing"
        
        can/could/will be able to (Tense, the rest with semi-auxiliaries)
        
        could have done it (Perfect aspect)
        
        could (Subjunctive mood)
        
        *"He can may go"
      - & "do"
  - - - Become operators when they occur as the 1st verb of a finite VP
        
        "You can lift that heavy box; you are able to do it"
    - - The negative adverb ‘not’ (or its enclitic form/ particle "n’t") is added immediately after the operator
        
        "He may swim vs. He may not swim"
    - - Inversion of Subject & Operator (the operator is placed in front of the subject)
        
        "They will tell us the truth vs. Will they tell us the truth?"
    - - Operators are present when the rest of the predication is omitted (short answers, question tags or additions to remarks)
        
        Did you like the play? -Yes, I did
        
        She is joining us, isn’t she?
        
        We enjoyed the film and so did they
      - to avoid repetition
  - - - Verb idioms introduced by the primary verbs BE & HAVE
      - be able to
        
        be about to
        
        be due to
        
        be bound to
        
        be going to
        
        be likely to
        
        be supposed to
        
        have to
    - - None of them have non-finite forms, so they are always the 1st Vb in the verb phrase
        
        had better (advice: should)
        
        would rather (volition: 'd prefer to)
        
        have got to (obligation, necessity)
        
        be to (futurity)
      - a combination of Auxiliary + Infinitive or Adverb
    - - To-infinitive: seem to, appear to, happen to, manage to, tend to, etc.
        
        -Ing/-Ed participle: start (working), get (dressed)
      - Vbs that take other verb forms as objects / can be followed by another Vb (open-class). Followed by:
- - - - Ability: past of "can"
        
        Permisson: (more formal than can)
        
        Probability: (weak probability)
        
        Suggestion:
        
        Criticism: (disapproval)
        
        "I could hear you perfectly"
        
        "Could I talk to you for a minute?"
        
        "We all could be walking on the Moon in 20 years time"
        
        "We could go to London for our school trip"
        
        "How could you do that to your friends?"
        
        WAS ABLE TO when it really happened & implied difficulty
        
        In negative sentences, COULD & WAS ABLE TO are interchangeable: "The aeroplane couldn’t/wasn’t able to take off"
        
        With verbs of senses/thinking, we use COULD: "I could see smoke", "We could hear everything", "I couldn't understand it"
      - & past of "can"
        +polite
    - - Prediction: (+formal, -common than"will")
        
        Volition: willingness, intention
        
        Suggestion: (asking/giving, most usual)
        
        "We shall never forget our origins"
        
        "We shall support the wishes of our people"
        
        "What shall I do?" (advice), "Shall we give him our present?" (suggestion)
    - - Advice/suggestion:
        
        Personal opinion: (feelings on what is right)(obligation)
        
        Possibility: (tentative supposition in present/future)
        
        Formal situations: formal/polite "would"
        
        "You should stop smoking straight away"
        
        "I think the government should stop giving money away"
        
        "She should be back soon", "The mountains should be visible from here"
        
        "Should you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us"
      - & Ought to
    - - Permisson: (+polite/indirect than "may")
        
        Probability: (weak probability, most common/preferred)
        
        Advice/suggestion:
        
        Past of "may": (?) in indirect speech
        
        "You may/might/can leave when you like"
        
        "I might/may finally buy that shirt I told you about"
        
        "You might want to think about it"
        
        "He said it might happen anytime soon"
        
        MAY & MIGHT are modals of epistemic possibility: they denote the possibility of a given proposition’s being or becoming true
      - & past of "may"
    - - Prediction, deduction: (futute ~ with no certainty)
        
        Volition: (weak) willingness, intention (suggestions,offers, invitations)
        
        Directive: (strong) insistence
        
        Criticism: disapproval
        
        "I think we will probably go to Ireland next year", "That will be Sam knocking at the door"
        
        "Will you bring me the water, please? / Will you marry me?"
        
        "Will you stop making that noise!"
        
        "My computer won’t start"
    - - Permission: (+formal, -common than "can")
        
        Probability: (weak probability, =it is possible that...)
        
        General truth: (formal equivalent of "can")
        
        "You may go now./You may not say anything yet./May I say something?"
        
        "You may get your free pass if you get lucky" (=perhaps/possibly)
        
        "We may conclude that..."
        
        In conditional sentences MAY & MIGHT can be used instead of WILL / WOULD to indicate less certainty:
        "If they see you, they will/may/might smile at you"
        "If I were you, I would/may/might laugh at it"
    - - Obligation: (strong ~ & prohibition)
        (exercising authority or self-obligation)
        
        Necessity: (root ~) it is necessary for...to...
        
        Certainty & deduction: opposite to "can't"
        
        "You must finish your homework by nine o’clock"
        
        "She’ll finish school soon so she must think about her future"
        
        "It must be Ann calling again"
        
        Epistemic necessity MUST (have a high likelihood of it being true) cannot be used in (-/?): "She must be asleep = She can’t be awake"
        
        Root necessity MUST (=it is essential/necessary for...): "To be healthy, a plant must receive sunshine and water"
        
        CAN'T (impossibility): opposite of certainty
        
        NEED & HAVE TO also express Obligation & Necessity
        
        HAVE TO implies obligation by external forces. It lacks the implication the speaker is in authority or self-obligation
      - & Have to/ Need to
    - - Ability: (with Vbs of perception & cognition, =be able to/know how to)
        
        Permission: asking/giving ~ or fordibbing an action (=be allowed to)
        
        Possibility: (root ~, =it is possible for...to...)
        
        General truth:
        
        "I can/could hear/understand everything"
        
        "Can we go home?"
        
        "Experts can make mistakes"
        
        "English can be difficult to learn"
    - - Prediction: past of "will": referring to the future in the past
        
        Volition: suggestions, offers, invitations (formal/polite "will")
        
        Past habit: event repeated several times
        
        "I thought we would probably go to Ireland for our next holiday"
        
        "Would you bring me the water, please? / Would you marry me?"
        
        "When I was a child, I would go to the park everyday"
      - & past of "will"