This is the standard set
of phonemic symbols for English (RP and similar accents).
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Monday, April 28, 2014
Phonetic symbols for English:
Word class membership:
Although the caption
above may give the impression that any one word within a single meaning belongs
exclusively to one word class, you should note that this is not the case. Study
the words in bold in the following examples:
·
I
could not give her an immediate answer.
·
I
was surprised when he answered my letter.
·
Do
not write on the front of the answer sheet.
·
In
the first sentence, answer is being used as a noun – note the
attributive adjective immediate and the word an, both indicative of a
following noun.
·
In
the second, answer is a verb – the subject he and the
ending –ed show this.
·
While
in the third, answer tells you what kind of sheet is being
talked about and is, therefore, an adjective.
This flexibility in word
class membership is a peculiar feature of English among the European languages,
many of which would require different endings to show the class of the word.
Some words belong to more than one part of speech.
We can’t know what part of speech a word is until we see what work it is doing
in a sentence. A word can do different jobs in different sentences.
Look at the following sentences.
1. Give me some water.
2. They water the plants daily.
In the first sentence the word WATER names something. So it is a noun.
In the second sentence the same word WATER expresses an action. It tells what they do. Here it is a verb.
Study the word FAST in the following sentences.
1. He didn’t take anything during the fast. (It names something. So it is a noun.)
2. Muslims FAST during Ramazan. (It expressess an action. It tells what Muslims do. So, it is a verb.)
3. I missed the FAST train. (It adds to the meaning of the noun train. What kind of a train? A fast train. So, it is an adjective.)
4. She speaks fast. (It adds to the meaning of the verb SPEAKS and tells how she speaks. So, it is an adverb.)
The word FAST is a noun in 1, a verb in 2, an adjective in 3 and an adverb in 4.
Here are further examples.
Above:
We flew above the clouds. (Preposition)
Have you read the above sentence? (Adjective)
See above. (Adverb)
Back:
I have a pain in the back. (Noun)
I will come back in five minutes. (Adverb)
Have you closed the back door? (Adjective)
He backed his car through the gate. (Verb)
Better:
This watch is better than that. (Adjective)
He singes better than you. (Adverb)
You should respect your betters. (Noun)
Living conditions have bettered a great deal. (Verb)
Down:
The little girl feels down. (Adverb)
He ran down the hill. (Preposition)
We caught the down train. (Adjective)
The government downed the opposition. (Verb)
Like:
Children like sweets. (Verb)
He climbs like a cat. (Preposition)
You won’t see his like again. (Noun)
Tashi and his brother are very like. (Adjective)
Look at the following sentences.
1. Give me some water.
2. They water the plants daily.
In the first sentence the word WATER names something. So it is a noun.
In the second sentence the same word WATER expresses an action. It tells what they do. Here it is a verb.
Study the word FAST in the following sentences.
1. He didn’t take anything during the fast. (It names something. So it is a noun.)
2. Muslims FAST during Ramazan. (It expressess an action. It tells what Muslims do. So, it is a verb.)
3. I missed the FAST train. (It adds to the meaning of the noun train. What kind of a train? A fast train. So, it is an adjective.)
4. She speaks fast. (It adds to the meaning of the verb SPEAKS and tells how she speaks. So, it is an adverb.)
The word FAST is a noun in 1, a verb in 2, an adjective in 3 and an adverb in 4.
Here are further examples.
Above:
We flew above the clouds. (Preposition)
Have you read the above sentence? (Adjective)
See above. (Adverb)
Back:
I have a pain in the back. (Noun)
I will come back in five minutes. (Adverb)
Have you closed the back door? (Adjective)
He backed his car through the gate. (Verb)
Better:
This watch is better than that. (Adjective)
He singes better than you. (Adverb)
You should respect your betters. (Noun)
Living conditions have bettered a great deal. (Verb)
Down:
The little girl feels down. (Adverb)
He ran down the hill. (Preposition)
We caught the down train. (Adjective)
The government downed the opposition. (Verb)
Like:
Children like sweets. (Verb)
He climbs like a cat. (Preposition)
You won’t see his like again. (Noun)
Tashi and his brother are very like. (Adjective)
Near:
He lives near the station. (Preposition)
Most of my near relatives live abroad. (Adjective)
He got nervous as the examinations neared. (Verb)
I went near enough to see over it. (Adverb)
Right:
You are quite right. (Adjective)
Keep to the right. (Noun)
Go right to the end of the road. (Adverb)
They were able to right the boat. (Verb)
Round:
The earth is round. (Adjective)
The boys ran round the tree. (Preposition)
Will you come round to our house this evening? (Adverb)
We won the first round of the tennis cup. (Noun)
The child’s eyes rounded with excitement. (Verb)
Up :
You should stand up when the teacher comes in. (adverb)
He climbed up the hill. (Preposition)
What time is the next up train? (Adjective)
He hit the ball on the up. (Noun)
He lives near the station. (Preposition)
Most of my near relatives live abroad. (Adjective)
He got nervous as the examinations neared. (Verb)
I went near enough to see over it. (Adverb)
Right:
You are quite right. (Adjective)
Keep to the right. (Noun)
Go right to the end of the road. (Adverb)
They were able to right the boat. (Verb)
Round:
The earth is round. (Adjective)
The boys ran round the tree. (Preposition)
Will you come round to our house this evening? (Adverb)
We won the first round of the tennis cup. (Noun)
The child’s eyes rounded with excitement. (Verb)
Up :
You should stand up when the teacher comes in. (adverb)
He climbed up the hill. (Preposition)
What time is the next up train? (Adjective)
He hit the ball on the up. (Noun)
Verbs in English grammar:
The verb is central to the English clause and that it is a
word which describes an 'action' of some sort. But there are also other types
of verbs. Would you, for example, categorize become, smell, resemble and possess as 'action' verbs? Clearly we need a
more accurate and extended definition of a verb so that we can identify this
word class with more precision.
One common classification of the main types of verb is
given below with examples:
·
Activity: play, speak, run, telephone,
bathe, organize, read, raise, look at, listen to, refuse, and scratch. The
vast majorities of verbs are included in this class and are what we normally
understand an 'action' word to be.
·
Process: ripen, change, strengthen, grow,
deteriorate, become, die, go, come, and fall. This class of verbs is used
to indicate a change from one state to another.
·
Sensation: hurt, ache, sting, smart, and itch.
This is a small class of verbs that are used to refer to bodily sensations.
·
Momentary: knock, beat, tap, nod, hop, and
jump. These verbs, although closely related to the first category, have a
shorter duration of action.
·
Cognition: know, remember, perceive, prefer,
want, forget, and understand. These verbs have less to do with an overt
action since they involve mental or cognitive processes.
·
Perception: see, smell, feel, taste, hear.
This small class of verbs is closely linked with verbs of cognition, but centre
on the senses rather than cerebral activity.
·
Relational: be, consist of, own, have, seem,
resemble, appear, sound, look (good), belong to. This category of verbs is
used to connect two closely related concepts, usually either through
equivalence or possession.
These seven categories cover, by and large, the main verb types
in English and also constitute the sub-classes of a broader grammatical
division of verbs into dynamic verbs and stative verbs. In the list above, categories 1
to 4 consist of dynamic verbs, while 5 to 7 contain stative verbs. Let's look
at a few examples to illustrate what is meant by the dynamic/stative contrast.
Study the following pairs of sentences:
·
1.
I stay with friends every year.
·
2.
I am staying with friends at the moment.
·
3.
He eats sandwiches for lunch.
·
4.
He is eating a sandwich.
·
5.
We listen to Radio 1 in the morning.
·
6. We are listening to Radio 1.
·
All of the sentences contain dynamic verbs taken from category 1 in the
list above. The odd numbered sentences are all examples of
the Present Simple tense which, in these cases, indicates an activity that
occurs with regular frequency, namely every
year, every lunchtime,
and every morning. The even numbered sentences,
however, limit the time of the activity to the moment of speaking and are
therefore temporary in nature. The verbs are, therefore in the Present
Continuous tense. Dynamic verbs, then, can be found in both simple and
continuous tenses.
Now look at the following pairs of sentences which contain stative verbs taken from categories 5 to 7:
·
I
want to go home.
·
*I
am wanting to go home.
·
We
all love chocolate.
·
*We
are all loving chocolate.
·
This
bag belongs to me.
·
*This
bag is belonging to me.
The first sentence of each pair, with the Present Simple
tense is grammatically acceptable, but the second sentence of each pair is not.
As a general rule, then, stative verbs are not found with the continuous
tenses, but there are specific times when most of the stative verbs can be used with a continuous tense.
However, these situations are limited to specific uses or entail a change in
the basic meaning of the verb, for example: I
think you're right and I'm thinking of you. In the
first example I am giving you my opinion and so the verb refers to cognition,
whereas in the second, the thinking is much more akin to an activity. You will
probably find that this kind of distinction can be made for most of those
stative verbs that can be used with both simple and continuous tenses.
Main Verbs (Lexical Verbs):
Main verbs have meaning on
their own (unlike helping verbs). There are thousands of main verbs, and we can classify them in
several ways:
Transitive and intransitive verbs
A transitive verb takes a
direct object: Somebody killed the President. An intransitive verb does not have a direct object: He died. Many verbs, like speak, can be transitive or intransitive. Look at these examples:
Transitive:
- I saw an
elephant.
- We are watching TV.
- He speaks English.
Intransitive:
- He has arrived.
- John goes to
school.
- She speaks fast.
Linking verbs
A linking verb does not
have much meaning in itself. It "links" the subject to what is said
about the subject. Usually, a linking verb shows equality (=) or a change to a
different state or place (>). Linking verbs are always intransitive (but not
all intransitive verbs are linking verbs).
- Sarah is a
teacher. (Mary = teacher)
- Pauline is beautiful.
(Tara = beautiful)
- That sounds interesting.
(that = interesting)
- The sky became dark.
(the sky > dark)
- The bread has
gone bad.
(bread > bad)
Dynamic and stative verbs:
Some verbs describe action.
They are called "dynamic", and can be used with continuous tenses.
Other verbs describe state (non-action, a situation). They are called
"stative", and cannot normally be used with continuous tenses (though
some of them can be used with continuous tenses with a change in meaning).
Dynamic verbs (examples):
- hit, explode, fight, run, go
Stative verbs (examples):
- be
- like, love, prefer, wish
- impress, please, surprise
- hear, see, sound
- belong to, consist of, contain,
include, need
- appear, resemble, seem
Regular and irregular verbs:
This is more a question of vocabulary
than of grammar. The only real difference between regular and irregular verbs
is that they have different endings for their past tense and past participle
forms. For regular verbs, the past tense ending and past participle ending is
always the same: -ed. For irregular verbs, the past tense ending and the past
participle ending is variable, so it is necessary to learn them by heart.
Regular
verbs: base, past tense, past participle
- look, looked, looked
- work, worked, worked
Irregular
verbs: base, past tense, past participle
- buy, bought, bought
- cut, cut, cut
- do, did, done
Regular Verbs:
·
English regular verbs
change their form very little (unlike irregular
verbs). The past tense and past participle of regular
verbs end in -ed, for example:
·
work, worked, worked
·
But you should note the
following points:
·
1. Some verbs can be both
regular and irregular, for example:
·
learn, learned, learned
learn, learnt, learnt
learn, learnt, learnt
·
2. Some verbs change their
meaning depending on whether they are regular or irregular, for example
"to hang":
regular
|
hang, hanged, hanged
|
to kill or die, by dropping with a rope around
the neck
|
irregular
|
hang, hung, hung
|
to fix something (for example, a picture) at
the top so that the lower part is free
|
·
3. The present tense of
some regular verbs is the same as the past tense of some irregular verbs:
regular
|
found,
founded, founded
|
irregular
|
find, found, found
|
Irregular Verbs:
Irregular verbs are an
important feature of English. We use irregular verbs a lot when speaking, less
when writing. Of course, the most famous English verb of all, the verb "to
be", is irregular.
What is the difference
between regular verbs and irregular verbs?
Base Form
|
Past Simple
|
Past Participle
|
|
With regular verbs, the rule is simple...
|
|||
The past simple and past participle always end
in -ed:
|
finish
|
finished
|
finished
|
stop
|
stopped
|
stopped
|
|
work
|
worked
|
worked
|
|
But with irregular verbs, there is no rule...
|
|||
Sometimes the verb changes completely:
|
sing
|
sang
|
sung
|
Sometimes there is "half" a change:
|
buy
|
bought
|
bought
|
Sometimes there is no change:
|
cut
|
cut
|
cut
|
One good way to learn
irregular verbs is to try sorting them into groups, as above.
How is the verb
incorporated into larger grammatical structures, and how is its meaning and
function extended?
The Verb Phrase:
The following
sentences help to illustrate the possible range of structures in the English
verb phrase (in bold).
·
I play the piano.
·
The
family left early.
·
He is talking rubbish.
·
Sarah can sing opera.
·
We used to have kippers for breakfast.
·
I have been painting the
lounge.
·
We might be seeing each
other next week.
·
You should have been watching the
baby.
·
The
wallet might have been lost at
the party.
·
The report must have been being prepared by
the boss.
From these
examples we can see that there may be up to four, possibly even five, separate
words in the verb phrase of a clause and they all have a particular part to
play in the overall meaning.
So, what are the
individual elements of the verb phrase and how does each of them contribute to
the meaning? Let's first analyze some of the sentences above as an
illustration:
Subject
|
Modal
|
Primary
|
Main verb
|
Object
|
I
|
-
|
-
|
play
|
the
piano.
|
He
|
-
|
is
|
talking
|
rubbish.
|
Sarah
|
can
|
-
|
sing
|
opera.
|
I
|
-
|
have
been
|
painting
|
the
house.
|
You
|
should
|
have
been
|
watching
|
the
baby.
|
You will notice that the various parts of the verb phrase
have been divided into two main categories: auxiliary
verbs and main verb. The former has been further sub-divided into modal auxiliary and primary auxiliary.
You may also
have noticed that there are a number of different possible configurations of
these elements; e.g. main verb only, modal auxiliary plus main verb, one
primary auxiliary plus main verb, two primary auxiliaries plus main verb and so
on. However, the only indispensable element of the verb phrase is the main
verb, because it is here that the basic, unchanging meaning of the verb phrase
lies.
What's an auxiliary verb?
Besides acting as the main verb of a sentence, verbs are
also helpful in a number of other ways, which are not so obvious. There are
also auxiliary or 'helping' verbs that are used in a variety of ways. The main
auxiliary verbs are be, have and do.
They are used with main verbs
to make specific tenses:
·
He is coming. present
continuous
·
She wasn't driving. past
continuous
·
We haven't seen
an eclipse before. present perfect
·
She had dropped
her keys. past perfect
The verb be + a past participle is also used to
make passive forms:
·
The road is mended
once a year.
·
The engines are made
in Germany.
·
The votes are being counted
in the hall.
·
The whales had been driven onto the shore.
The auxiliary verbs are used
to make questions:
·
Do you
want a drink?
·
Don't you
like opera?
·
Have you
finished the work yet?
·
Which train do you think
you'll catch?
Auxiliary verbs are used to
make exclamations:
·
Wasn't she
awful!
·
Haven't you
grown!
·
Didn't they
do well!
·
Isn't it
freezing!
To make questions tags:
·
We're very happy, aren't we?
·
It's cold, isn't it?
·
You don't like fish, do you?
·
You haven't had a happy childhood, have you?
[Note that the verb to be is the most common
verb in English and it is the only one that can operate as both a main verb and
an auxiliary verb. It doesn't need any additional help to make questions or
negatives].
·
I am very happy.
·
Am I very happy?
·
I'm not very happy.
Compare this with the verbs do and have which need
additional help to make questions and negatives.
·
I have a very large nose. I don't
have a
very large nose.
·
I do my piano practice at 6 o'clock. I don't
do my
piano practice.
What is a modal auxiliary verb?
They are also
'helping' verbs because they are used to express a range of meanings, such as
certainty, probability, possibility, suggestion, permission, instructions,
requests, obligations, necessity, ability and so on. The main modal auxiliary
verbs are:
·
can,
could, may, might
·
shall,
should, will, would
·
must,
ought, to
·
also need
to be able to, have (got) to
The main types of use of
modal auxiliary verbs
certainty / probability (must, will, ought to, can't,
should)
·
He must be
feeling very unhappy at the moment.
·
She ought to forget
him, and move on.
possibility (may, might, could, can)
·
She might arrive
on the 5 o'clock train.
·
They may come
on Sunday, but I'm not sure.
suggestion (may, could, shall, might)
·
Shall we
start again?
·
You may want
to read over your essay again.
permission (may, can, could)
·
Can I
connect this wire now?
·
You may begin
the examination.
instructions and requests (would, will, can, could)
·
Can you
explain that in words of one syllable?
·
Could you
close the door, please?
obligations / necessity (must, have to, have got to)
·
I must send
my mother a card on her birthday.
·
I've got to re-write
this essay.
ability (can, could, be able to)
·
I couldn't stop
laughing!
·
He won't be able to shift
that stone.
Modal auxiliary verbs
Modals auxiliary verbs are a very complex area of English
grammar, so in this quick guide we will not be able to go into much detail, but
we will at least get an overall idea of what their function is in a sentence.
In an earlier section of this guide we looked at how the verb phrase can be
broken down into its constituent parts and we noted that one of these parts was
called a modal auxiliary verb. Just
to remind you of the previous examples, a section of the chart has been
reproduced below:
Subject
|
Modal
|
Primary
|
Main verb
|
Object
|
Sarah
|
can
|
-
|
sing
|
opera
|
You
|
should
|
have been
|
watching
|
the baby
|
Examples of modal auxiliary
verbs
Before we look
at some of the possible meanings of modal auxiliary verbs we need to have some
idea of what constitutes a modal in English and where they occur in a sentence.
A few more examples should enable us to answer the second of these points
fairly quickly and easily - the modals are in bold:
·
He should be
here by now.
·
I could swim
quite well when I was younger.
·
You mustn't blame
yourself for this.
·
You might have
discussed it with me first.
·
You can't be
serious!
·
Could you
open the window please?
·
Must you
make so much noise?
·
She had to take
her brother along with her.
·
We ought to be
going.
It should be clear from these examples that the modal verb
occupies the first position in verb phrase, coming before any other auxiliary
verb (like have or be) and the main lexical
verb.
In questions the modal verb is simply inverted with the
subject of the sentence as in examples 6 and 7 and it also carries the negative
particle not (3rd and 5th
examples).
The subject of
the sentence has no effect on the form of the modal since almost in all cases
they do not change at all.
So, a modal verb is quite simple as far as its form and
position in various types of sentence are concerned; but what exactly are the
modal verbs in English? The chart below lists the main modal auxiliaries that
you are likely to meet and divides them into two categories pure modals and semi-modals, although in
most cases the distinction is merely formal and their meanings are not affected
by this division.
Pure
modals
|
Semi-modals
|
can
|
ought to
|
could
|
has/have (got) to
|
may
|
be able to
|
might
|
|
shall
|
|
should
|
|
will
|
|
would
|
|
need ***
|
*** need is a special verb
since as an auxiliary it is almost always negative and it is also a lexical
verb as in sentences like he needs to speak to you now, while it acts as a modal verb in sentences such as you needn't come to work tomorrow where it has the same meaning as don't have to.
The forms of
pure modals:
The main
characteristics of the pure modals are:
·
they never change their form
irrespective of the subject of the sentence
e.g. he can swim, not *he cans swim
e.g. he can swim, not *he cans swim
·
following on from the above feature,
they do not change to show past tense
e.g. she had to leave not *she musted leave
e.g. she had to leave not *she musted leave
·
they all carry the negative of the
sentence by the addition of not/n't
e.g. I can't remember not *I don't can remember
e.g. I can't remember not *I don't can remember
·
they all form questions by inversion
with the subject of the sentence.
e.g. should I stay?
e.g. should I stay?
·
they are all followed by the base form
of the verb without the addition of to
e.g. he can swim not *he can to swim
e.g. he can swim not *he can to swim
The forms of
semi-modals:
You will notice that this type of modal is made up of two
or more separate words, the last one invariably being ‘to’. They are all modal in
meaning but not in form as they behave differently in a sentence from the pure
modals. It is perhaps best to think of the semi-modals in the form with the ‘to’ infinitive that is
given in the table rather than thinking of them as modals that need to + base form. We need
to look at the form of each individual semi-modal separately.
Be able to:
We use this semi-modal to express possibility or the
ability to do something, but unlike the pure modals, be able to has a full range of
tenses and also needs to inflect to show agreement with its subject. For
example:
·
He is able to offer you the best price
possible.
·
We were able to get in to see the film.
·
They haven't been able to find the
missing document.
·
So, you aren't able to help.
Notice that the negative is carried either by the ‘be’ element or the
auxiliary verb that is closest to the subject of the sentence. It can also be
accompanied by any of the pure modals:
·
I will be able to see you after lunch.
·
They might not be able to put us up for
the night.
Has/have (got) to:
This is used to express necessity or obligation to do
something and shares some of the features of be able to discussed above. The have element of the form
has to change to agree with its subject. Although it is normally used in the
present tense, it also has its own past (had to) and can be used with pure modals to show the future or
the attitude of the speaker:
·
They have to be more punctual.
·
He has to take responsibility for the
accident.
·
I had to help my father repair his car.
·
We will have to put this off until
tomorrow.
·
You shouldn't have to suffer in silence.
·
You don't have to come if you don't want
to.
·
He didn't have to do all the shopping.
From these few examples it should be clear that the
negative not again attaches
itself to the auxiliary verb (modal or main) that comes immediately after the
subject of the sentence.
Ought to:
It is usually claimed that the meaning of ought to is the same as should whether it refers to
giving advice or making a logical deduction. So, to most native speakers the
following sentences with ought to andshould feel the same:
·
You ought to see a doctor.
·
You should see a doctor.
·
They ought to have got back home by now.
·
They should have got back home by now.
In practice, most speakers tend to prefer should for negatives and
questions because the ought to and oughtn't ... to forms can sound rather clumsy and awkward.
·
Ought you to be doing that?
·
They oughtn't to (ought not to) do that.
·
Oughtn't we to leave now?
Meanings of modal verbs:
The main function of modal verbs is to allow the speaker or
writer to express their opinion of, or their attitude to, a proposition. These
attitudes can cover a wide range of possibilities including obligation, asking for and giving permission, disapproval,
advising, logical deduction, ability, possibility, necessity, absence of
necessity and so on. The problem with each modal verb is that it can
have more that one meaning and the interpretation of a particular modal will
depend heavily on the context in which it is being used. The following examples
should help to illustrate this point.
·
It might take more than a week.
(possibility)
·
You might have told me about it!
(showing disapproval)
·
He must take his medicine three times a
day. (obligation)
·
He must be French. (logical deduction)
·
I can't lift that suitcase by myself.
(ability)
·
That can't be the right answer. (logical
deduction)
·
May I look at the questions now? (asking
for permission)
·
They say it may snow tomorrow.
(possibility)
You probably also noticed from the examples that notions
like permission and possibility can be expressed
using different modal verbs - this, of course, only serves to complicate
matters further since one modal verb can have more than one meaning, and one
meaning can be expressed by more than one modal verb. In the space that we have
available here it would be impossible to cover all the meanings of each of the
modals, so as examples we will look at some of the ways that obligation and logical deduction can be expressed.
Obligation:
The two main modals here are must and have to. The difference
between them is usually given as follows:must is used to express an internal obligation that is imposed
by the speaker, while have to refers to rules and regulations that are imposed from
outside the speaker. Again, as with many points of grammar this is only
intended as a rough guide.
To express a lack of obligation we cannot just
automatically add not to the modal verbs without thinking more carefully about it
first. How do you feel about the following sentences for instance?
·
He must sing loudly.
·
He mustn't sing loudly.
In the first sentence you would probably agree that this is obligation originating from, say,
a teacher or someone with authority. The second sentence, however, does not
express a lack of obligation but a prohibition to do something.
The form that we use to express a lack of obligation could be one of the following:
·
He doesn't have to get up early.
·
He doesn't need to get up early.
This lack of
balance in the use of modals can cause many problems for people who are
learning English since it is quite illogical.
Logical deduction:
This is another
area of modal use that is fraught with difficulties for reasons similar to
those just discussed above. Look at the following sentences:
The telephone rings:
·
That'll be Frank.
·
That must be Frank.
·
That should be Frank.
·
That could be Frank.
·
That might be Frank.
·
That may be Frank.
The modal verbs
used here have been listed in what many consider to be the order of likelihood
of something being true. You may or may not agree with this listing, but it
gives you some idea of some of the choices available for drawing logical
conclusions from situations. If we look at the negatives of these sentences,
however, you can see just how much more complex it can become:
·
That won't be Frank.
·
* That mustn't be Frank.
(To use musn't in this way as logical deduction is incorrect; we use can't instead.)
(To use musn't in this way as logical deduction is incorrect; we use can't instead.)
·
That shouldn't be Frank.
·
That couldn't be Frank.
·
That mightn't be Frank.
Many of these sentences now denote completely different
attitudes to the situation and you may even agree that some of them are either
not English or are only marginally acceptable. The sentence which has probably
moved furthest from its original intention is the second one (mustn't) which
sounds very odd. In fact, the negative of must when we talking
about deduction is can't - one more example of how complicated and counter-intuitive
the system of English modals can be.
Past time with modals:
We noted earlier that the pure modals do not change to show
tense. Most of these modals do in fact have either present or future reference,
but sometimes we need to refer back to the past. With the semi-modals there is
little problem, but how can we do this for pure modal verbs? You may have
picked up from some of the previous examples that one way to do this is to
insert have immediately after
the pure modal. But this is not always the case since can has its own past
tense could when it refers to
general ability. Some examples should help:
·
I can speak German.
·
I could speak German when I was seven
years old.
·
You should see this film.
·
You should have seen this film.
·
Indonesia must be hot.
·
Indonesia must have been hot.
·
He could find his wallet.
·
He could have found his wallet.
Notice that in the third pair of sentences the meaning of must is logical deduction
not obligation. If we want to use must for obligation then the past tense is had to.
·
She
must visit her mother.
·
She
had to visit her mother.
Conditional sentences:
The most common kind of conditional sentence that you are
likely to meet will contain two clauses, one of which will start with the word if, as in If it rains, we'll have to stay at home. The clause without the if is the main clause
of the sentence, while the if clause is subordinate. The order of the two clauses is
generally not that important to the meaning of the sentence; so we can switch
the if clause to the end of
the sentence if we want to.
Most grammar books tend to recognise four basic
configurations of tenses in conditional sentences which vary in structure
according to the time that we are talking about (past, present or future) and
the meaning. These four types are normally referred to as the zero, first, second and third conditionals; we will
look at the forms and meanings of each of these in turn and also examine some
of the alternatives to these four basic types.
Zero-type
conditionals
Form and meaning
The form of the
zero conditional causes no problems since the present tenses are used in both
clauses.
Zero-type
conditionals
|
|
If clause
|
Main or conditional clause
|
If + Present tense
|
Present tense
|
If you heat water
|
it boils.
|
The zero conditional is normally used to talk about facts and to express general truths.
First-type
conditionals
Form and meaning
The basic form
for this type of conditional sentence can be seen in the chart below. As
before, the order of the clauses can be changed with no change in meaning.
This type refers to future possibilities that are certain or probable.
First-type
conditionals
|
|
If clause
|
Main or conditional clause
|
If + Present tense
|
Future tense
|
If they don't arrive
soon
If they are late
|
We’ll leave without
them.
I'm going to be
angry.
|
You will note that on the if side of the sentence
any present tense can be used, while in the main clause the speaker is free to
choose any future that helps to express any additional meaning that the speaker
wants to express.
If he's sleeping, he won't wake up until morning. (The Present Continuous in the first part of the sentence
expresses the present temporary nature of the situation and the will in the second part
is making a prediction about the future.)
Alan is going to post me the recipe, if he finds it. (In the first clause I am expressing Alan's intention sogoing to is the best future
to use, while the second clause contains a Simple Present tense.)
If he's staying at the party, I'm leaving. (In the first clause I am thinking about the possible
current state of affairs, so I choose the Present Continuous, while in the
second I am referring to the future plan that I have in mind should he decide
to stay, so again I choose the Present Continuous.)
If you have finished the essay, leave it on my desk. (By using the Present Perfect tense in the if clause I am
stressing the completed nature of the action, while in the second clause I have
used an imperative, which has a future meaning.)
Second-type
conditionals
Form and meaning
This type is often called the hypothetical or 'unreal' future conditional since it
is usually used to speculate about either very unlikely future situations or
present and future impossibilities.
Second-type
conditionals
|
|
If clause
|
Main or conditional clause
|
If + Past tense
|
would + verb
|
If I had time
If I had wings
|
I would drop you off
at school.
I would fly.
|
Other examples
are:
·
If
you were coming with us, you would have a great time.
(Either I am not expecting you to come or you have already told me that you do
not intend to come, so the situation is very unlikely to happen.)
·
I'm
sure my mother would help if you asked her. (I am unsure whether you are going to
ask so I hedge my bets by using an 'unreal' conditional; if I had used I'm
sure my mother will help instead,
this gives the impression that I feel you are likely to ask.)
·
If
I were you, I'd call back later. (This
is a fixed expression used for giving advice, but since I can never be you, I
use the future hypothetical conditional; you should note that many people would
say if I was you and this is becoming increasingly
common.)
Third-type
conditionals
Form and meaning
This type refers to hypothetical situations in the past. In this case we use the Past Perfect tenses in the ifclause and would + have in the main clause.
Third-type
conditionals
|
|
If clause
|
Main or conditional clause
|
If + Past Perfect
tense
|
would have + past participle
|
If I had known about
his condition
If we had known about
the storm
|
I would have phoned
for you earlier.
we wouldn't have
started our journey.
|
The main uses of
the third conditional are for speculating about the past, expressing regrets,
excusing our own actions and criticizing others. Some of the uses tend to
overlap in practice as the examples below demonstrate:
·
If
we'd taken the first turning, we would have been at home by now.
·
If
I'd bought the lottery ticket, we would have won millions.
·
If
I'd realised you were going to be so sensitive, I'd have kept quiet.
·
The
meeting would've finished before 1:00 if
you'd said less.
There is one
other major variation to the form given in the chart above; in place of the
more usual
If I had known about his condition...
we can use
Had I known about his condition... where the if is omitted and the subject and auxiliary verb are inverted.
Mixed conditionals
The four types
of conditional sentence discussed above appear to fit into very rigid patterns
of form and meaning but we often find exceptions to these rules. In many cases
we may want to talk about events that happened or did not happen in the past
and the present results of those events. Therefore, we will often need to mix
clauses from different conditional types in order to get our meaning across
clearly and unambiguously. Taking one example from above, we might want to say:
If I'd bought the lottery ticket, we would be millionaires now.
In this sentence I want to refer to something that I did
not do in the past (and probably regret) and the possible effect that this
action might have had on the present - so I use a third-conditional if clause and a
second-conditional main clause. Swapping around these two types we also get:
·
If
he was going to come, he would have arrived by now (with a second-conditional if clause and a third-conditional main).
This kind of
mixing of conditional types is not uncommon.
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