Can; could; to be able to

Uses	Present/Future	Past
1) ability; capability	I can run fast. I can help you. I am able to help you. I will be able to help you.	I could run fast when I was a child, but now I can't. I was able to help you.
2) informal permission	You can use my car tomorrow.
3) polite request	Can I borrow your pen? Could I borrow your pen? Could you help me?
4) impossibility (negative only)	That can't be true! That couldn't be true!	That can't have been true! That couldn't have been true!
5) suggestion	— I need help in math. You could talk to your teacher.	You could have talked to your teacher.
6) less than 50% certainty	— Where is John? He could be at home.	He could have been at home.
7) doubt; astonishment (interrogative)	Can she know Japanese?	Can he have done it?

May; might

Uses	Present/Future	Past
1) polite request	May I borrow your pen? Might I borrow your pen?	—
2) formal permission	You may leave the room.	¾
3) less than 50% certainty	— Where is John? He may be at the library. He might be at the library.	He may have been at the library. He might have been at the library.

Must; be to; have to; have got to

Uses	Present/Future	Past
1) duty; obligation; strong necessity	I must go to class today. I have to go to class today. I have got to go to class today.	I had to go to class yesterday.
2) lack of necessity (negative)	I don't have to go to class today.	I didn't have to go to class yesterday.
3) prohibition (negative)	You must not open that door.	¾
4) 90% certainty	Mary isn't in class. She must be sick. (present only)	Mary must have been sick yesterday.
5) plan; agreement	We are to meet at nine.	We were to meet at nine.
6) order; instruction	You must go there at once. You are to go there at once.	¾
7) destiny (past only)	¾	He was never to see his wife again.

Should; ought to

Uses	Present/Future	Past
1) advisability; desirability	I should study tonight. I ought to study tonight.	I should have studied last night. I ought to have studied last night.
2) 90% certainty	She should do well on the test. She ought to do well on the test. (future only)	She should have done well on the test. She ought to have done well on the test.

Shall

Uses	Present/Future	Past
1) polite question to make a suggestion	Shall I open the window?	¾
2) future with «I» or «we» as subject	I shall arrive at nine. (will = more common)	¾

Will; would

Uses	Present/Future	Past
1) 100 % certainty	He will be here at nine.	He said he would be here at nine.
2) polite request	Will you please pass the salt? Would you please pass the salt? Would you mind if I left early?	¾
3) willingness	— The phone's ringing. I'll get it.	¾
4) preference	I would rather go to the park than stay home.	I would rather have gone to the park.

INDEFINITE PRONOUN «ONE»

Examples	Functions
One should always be polite. How does one get to 5^th Avenue from here? One must keep one’s word.	one means any person, people in general. The subject of an impersonal sentence. (usually not translated)
This book is more interesting than the one we read last week. Here are two books. Which one would you like?	Any function for replacing a noun already mentioned.
One should take care of one’s health. One should take care of his health. One should take care of his or her health.	Notice the pronouns that may be used in the same sentence to refer back to one.

The PRONOUNs «both, either and neither»

Examples	Functions
Both these children are mine. These children are both mine. Both my children are boys. They both accepted the invitation. You are both right. They have both been invited. We must both go there.	Both is plural in meaning and applied only to two persons or things.
a) Take either book. I don’t mind which. The news didn’t shock either of them. Have you seen either of your parents today? b) You may go by either road. The houses on either side were tall and big.	Either refers to two persons or things and has two meanings. a) one or the other of two; b) each of two; both.
Neither brother has been abroad. We accepted neither offer. Neither of the statements is true.	Neither means not the one nor the other.

Sequence of Tenses
Direct and Indirect Speech

If the main verb of the sentence is in the present, no change is made in the verb tense or modal in the object clause.	If the main verb of the sentence is in the past, the verb in the object clause is usually also in a past form.
He sais (that) he works hard.	He said (that) he worked hard.
He sais (that) he is working hard.	He said (that) he was working hard.
If the action of the object clause is simultaneous with that of the principal clause, the Past Indefinite or the Past Continuous is used in the object clause no matter which Past tense-aspect form is found in the principal clause.
He sais (that) he worked hard.	He said (that) he had worked hard.
He sais (that) he was working hard.	He said (that) he had been working hard.
He sais (that) she has already left.	He said (that) she had already left.
If the action of the object clause precedes that of the principal clause, the Past Perfect or the Past Perfect Continuous is used in the object clause no matter which Past tense-aspect form is found in the principal clause.
He sais (that) he will work hard.	He said (that) he would work hard.
He sais (that) he will have finished the work by September.	He said (that) he would have finished the work by September.
He sais (that) he will be working hard all day long.	He said (that) he would be working hard all day long.
If the action of the object clause follows that of the principal clause, the Future- in-the-Past or one of the other means of expressing future actions viewed from the past is used in the object clause no matter which Past tense-aspect form is found in the principal clause.
He sais (that) he is going to work hard.	He said (that) he was going to work hard.
He sais (that) he can work hard.	He said (that) he could work hard.
He sais (that) he may work hard.	He said (that) he might work hard.
He sais (that) he has to work hard.	He said (that) he had to work hard.
He sais (that) he must work hard.	He said (that) he had to work hard.
He sais (that) he should work hard.	He said (that) he should work hard.
He sais (that) he ought to work hard.	He said (that) he ought to work hard.
The rules of sequence of tenses cannot be observed with certain modal verbs which have only one form. (must, should, ought and need)

THE Infinitive

Infinitive	Active voice	Passive voice	Uses
Indefinite	to write to come	to be written —	the action is simultaneous with that expressed by the finite verb.
He wants to write her about it. He wants to be written about it.
Continuous	to be writing to be coming	— —	the action is temporary and not a usual one.
He may be writing a new novel.
Perfect	to have written to have come	to have been written —	the action precedes that of the predicate.
I am glad to have written her about it. I was surprised to have been written about it.
Perfect Continuous	to have been writing to have been coming	— —	the action began before the time indicated by the predicate and is still going on.
He is said to have been writing this novel for 2 years already.

Functions	Examples
Subject	To know him is to trust him. It is difficult to translate this text.
Predicative	Our aim is to master English. What I want is to be left alone.
Part of a Compound Verbal Predicate	We must stay at home. We decided to work together.
Object	He asked me to wait. He promised to come in time.
Attribute	He is always the firstto come. The article to be translated is on the table.
Adverbial Modifier	I have come here to help you. The problem is too complicated to be solved at once.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1237

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