at > The Grammar of English Language Capers Vorb Inthe English Languege CHAPTER III: VERB IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE 3.1. DEFINITION AND CATEGORIES Verbs can be subdivided into main verbs and auxiliaries. Auxiliaries may belong to two smaller groups: (@) those used to form negative and interrogative sentences, different aspects and tenses, the passive voice, and emphasis; and (b) modal auxiliaries which are used to form the modality of the action, Auxiliaries have no lexical meanings, and they must, therefore, be used with a lexical verb. Auxiliaries willbe discussed later in this part, so we will concentrate now on what traditional grammars call main verbs, i.e, those which can occur alone in the sentence. Traditional grammars typically define verbs semantically, i., as words that designate actions (kiss, run), processes (grow, change), experiences (know), or states of being (be, have). However, there's no useful or adequate definition of the term "verb". It is, though, useful to distinguish between finite and non-finite forms of verbs: Verbs in the present or past tense are called finite; thus, the finite forms of know are know as in | know her, knows as in She knows me, and knew as in We know it. A finite verb must normally have a subject (which may be hidden.) and a tense (a finite can also be called a tensed verb) The non-finites are the verb-forms without a tense, and that's why some grammars call them the non-tensed fr tonsoless. They include infinitives (present or perfect, with(out) “to'), present participles, past participles, and gerunds; e.g. the non-fnites the verb do are fo do, do, to have done, have done; doing; done; and doing respectively. You can see that the present participle and gerund are identical in form. Other verb categories/notions Notional verbs ‘These are verbs that have a lexical meaning, e.g., know, go, give, etc. Most of the verbs in English are notional verbs. Alternative terms for notional verbs are main verbs, lexical verbs, or contentive verbs. Stativestate verbs State verbs refers to relatively permanent situations, eg.: They own their own house / It has four bed-rooms The garden is large / She dislikes earth-worm.... State verbs contrast with action verbs (referring to actions, events, happenings). State is @ populer label for stative (just as action is for dynamic). Normally state (or stative) verbs are not used in progressive/continuous tenses (not “They are owning their house); in practice some stative verbs are used with dynamic meaning (eg,: We are having a party / You are being dificult.) ‘There are such stative verbs as: to appear, to believe, to concem, to consist (of), to know* to matter, to own, Transitive and intransitive verbs ‘Another useful distinction is that between transitive and intransitive verbs. A transitive verb in its active form must be followed by a direct object. Some transitive verbs can also be followed by indirect objects: George found a kite. George found us a kite.The Grammar of English Language (Chapter: Verbs inthe English Language Only a transitive verb can have an object or be used in the passive They drove him away in a police car. He was driven away in a police car. intransitive verbs are not followed by direct objects, by predicative adjective or noun. However, it should be noted that a great number of English verbs can be used both as transitive and intransitive: Nora ran to work this morning, (intransitive) Nora runs a small business in town, (transitive) Link verbs (also linking verbs or be-like verbs) ‘Verbs inthis small group, lke be, can be followed directly by an adjective. Examples of link verbs Can be get, go, tum, grow, look, smell feel, taste, etc 188 getting cold She looked beautiful in that shirt Phrasal verbs (also two-word verbs) Tracitonal grammarians define a phrasal verb as a verb followed by a particle (variously descrbed as 2 reposition, an adverb, or some combination ofthe two), e.g got up at 11 o'clock. | will Jook into that He put off the meeting In each of the sentences above, the verb and the particle seem to function like a single verb. Phrasal verbs ‘are made up of two or more words which function semantically and grammatically as single verbs ‘Semantically, phrasal verbs can be divided into 3 types: literal phrasal verbs, complative phrasal verbs, and figurative phrasal verbs, Literal phrasal verbs are those tems where the particle retains its iteral adverbial meaning as the up in the following example: | hung up the picture on the wall. | hung the picture up on the wall. ‘Some other examples of literal phrasal verbs are: sit down, hand outtake down Completive phrasal verbs are those where the particle indicates completed action, The particle up, out, ff and down all seem to be used in this way | tore up the piece of paper. I tore the piece of paper up. Some other examples of this type are: mix up, wind up, wear out, eat up, fade out, burn down, run down, cut of, turn off, ete, Phrasal verbs are considered ‘figurative’ when there is no systematic way of semantically associating the 2 eeea es The Grammar of English Language Chapter it; Verbs inthe English Language verb and the particle: ‘She looked up the information./ She looked the information up. ‘Some other figurative phrasal verbs are: tum up, catch on, give in, look over, ete Phrasal verbs form such an important part of colloquial English that no one can speak or understand ‘conversational or informal English easily without a knowledge of phrasal verbs. Agreement Grammatical links between words are often signaled by agreement, or ‘concord’. A form of one word requires 2 form of one corresponding form of another, as when in English, @ singular noun ‘agrees with’ a singular verb in the present tense: the man walks vs. the men walk, The most important type of concord in English is concord of number between subject and verb, as in the above example, and in The door is open vs. The doors are open. 3.2, VERB FORMS & FUNCTIONS This section deals with the non-finite forms of verbs. ‘As we have said, the present participle and the gerund are identical in form. Both are formed from verbs and always end in -ing. Therefore, words like learning, writing, cooking can function as gerunds or 25 present participles. However, the -ing form is usually called a gerund when it behaves’ like a noun, and @ present participle when it'behaves' like an adjective. In broad terms, the gerund can take the place of a noun, though, it can, like a verb, have an object ike coffee. John iikes Planes ke Swimming ying fying planes whereas, the present participle can take the place of an adjective: This is a wide stream. This is @ running stream. In compound nouns, a gerund usually shows the purpose to which the head noun is put, and a present participle refers to an action: an ironing board (a board for ironing) 2 parking lot (a lot for parking) drinking water (water for drinking) running shoes (shoes for running) running water (water that is running - in the pipeline) 37 Grammar of Eng Langvege Chapter: Vrs iat English Language flashing lights (lights that are flashing on and off) Present Participles As you can see, present participles are associated with verbs when they refer to actions in progress, e.g., in progressive tenses. Participle phrases also commonly stand for clauses (therefore, in some grammars they are called participle clauses) Walking in the park the other day, | saw a bird bulling a nest. (While | was waiking in the park the other day, | saw a bird and the bird was building a nest.) More often than not, present participle constructions can be used in place of: co-ordinate clauses: and in this case, the co-ordinating conjunction and must me dropped She lay awake all night and recalled the events of the day. She lay awake all night, rocaling the events of the day. Clauses of time: they can be used after the time conjunctions after, before, since, when and while, but cannot bbe used after the conjunctions as, as soon as, direc, unl, etc. On and in can be used to mean when and while: Since | phoned you this morning, | have changed my plans. Since phoning you this morning, | have change my plans. On finding the front door open, | became suspicious. invinile trying to open the can, | cut my hand, Clauses of reason: ‘As Lwas anxious to please him, | bought him a nice present. Being anxious to please him, Hpought him a nice present Conditional clauses: ILyou are travelling north, you must change at Leeds. It traveling north, you must change at Leeds. Unless you pay by credit card, please pay in cash Unless paying by credit card, please pay in cash. Clauses of concession: Possible conjunctions are although, even though, though, and while While he admitted that he had received the stolen jewellery, he denied having taken part in the robbery Wile admitting that he had received the stolen jewellery, he denied having taken part in the robbery, relative clauses: present participles can be used in place of defining clauses in the simple present or present progressive after relative pronouns: ‘The gil who is standing near the door is the manager of this shop. ‘The git standing near the door is the manager of this shop. 4The Grammar of Engish Language Chapter: Vorb I the English Languege Clauses of manner: the participle shows an adverbial relation to the rest of the sentence which is often used as manner: Mrs Brown spent his Sunday tidying the garden, He is very busy learning for the next examination. She answered it keeping silent, As a driver, he works sitting. Why don't we go swimming? We went sight-seeing last weekend In addition, the present participle can be the complement in the sentence; examples are: They were seen waiting on the corner. | watched a pavement-artist drawing a portrait in crayons. | can hear him coughing. | saw him being taken away by the police Within five minutes, Archie got us all playing hide-and-seek, Don't shout! You'll have the neighbours complaining. Do you remember me and mother coming to see you. (Present) Perfect participle constructions can be used in place of clauses in the present perfect and past perfect and the simple past. The action described in the contruction has always taken place before the action described in the main clause Note: active We have invited him here to speak, so we'd better go to his lecture. Having invited him here to speak, we'd better go to his lecture, passive Lhave been made redundant, so I'm going abroad. Having been made redundant, I'm going abroad. a.When the subject of the participle is not the same as the expressed subject of the main verb, the use of the participle construction results in lacks of concord and is considered incorrect. Such participle consturctions are often referred to as dangling participles (also unrelated participles): Watching TV, | completely forgot what the time was. * Watching ‘TV, time passes quickly.The Grammar English Language Chapter: Verbs Inthe Engish Language Reading my newspaper, | heard the doorbell ring * Reading my newspaper, the doorbell rang, However, there are some common expressions which break this rule Generally speaking, he is a kind man Taking everything into consideration, they ought to be given another chance “Judging from past performances, he isnot kel o do very wel in his exams ». When there is @ time difference between the actions of the two verbs, participle contructions cannot be used in place of relative clauses: Do you know anybody who has lost a cat? Do you know anybody having lost a cat? | want to talk to the person who broke that cup. | want to talk to the person breaking that cup Past Partciples Basically, the past participle is used to form the passive voice or the perfect tenses The glasses are broken. His house was painted green The inspectors have left for London. She had passed the tamogotchi toa friend when the teacher came up to her desk Everybody has been informed of the new social security scheme, Past participle constructions often occur in formal and Iterary style in place of Viewed from a distance, the island of Nepenthe looked like a cloud. ‘Asked about the school, the principal of Nguyen Du School gave us encouraging information on teaching and learning activities there. If accecpted for this post, you will be informed by January 18th, Unless changed, this law will make life difficult for the farmers. 6‘The Grammar of English Language Chapter: Vorb ine Engish Languoge Relative clause: The system usedin this school is very successful. The country is slowly recovering from the crisis caused by the collapse of the banking system. Participle constructions with ‘being’ and ‘having been’ The present participle form of be (being) can be used in place of the finite forms is/are/was/were} the perfect participle form (having beon) can be used in place of the finite forms have been and had been. These participle contructions are rare in everyday speech and only likely to occur in formal writing: Being so il, he can't go back to work yet. Having been ill for a very long time, he needs/needed more lime to recover before he can/eould go back to work. Being a public holiday, all the shops were closed. There being no further business, | declare the meeting closed. With the crowds booing, the opposition party leaders drove away. They talked for hours without a decision being taken. Gerunds Like nouns, gerunds are used to name, here, actions. In the sentence the gerund can have the following functions: subject Leaming the new bus schedule is easy. -Meking new friend can be dificult Not being tal is not a serious disadvantage in lite. Rowing keeps you fit subject complement: My student job this year is working inthe library Paul's favorite sport is running direct object: Paul likes running, Jim enjoys playing soccer ‘object complement: The police officer considered the offense speeding 1‘The Grammar of Engh Language Chapter: Verbs in the English Language The teacher called the children’s play leaming. object of a preposition in a phrase Paul likes most sports except fishing, Some people are afraid of speaking in public. Although, as mentioned above, gerunds are used in the sentence as nouns, they keep the Qualities of verbs. Gerunds (without an article) can be followed by direct objects, indirect objects, adverbials, and predicative adjectives if their meaning allows these constructions; it can also have a perfect form and even a passive: gerund followed by direct object: Leaning the new bus schedule is easy, Making new friends can be difficult gerund folowed by indirect object: Giving Jim a new soccer ball would please him. Buying Paula new shoes is expensive gerund followed by adverbial Learning quickly is easier for Pat than for Steve. Eating fast is bad for the digestion gerund followed by predicative adj Fesling happy makes Ray sing. Being kind can be difficult gerund taking a perfect form: 1'm sorry for having wasted your time ‘gerund taking @ passive: | can't forgive myselt for having boen cheated A gerund often functions in a general statements as an uncountable noun with no article. It can also be replaced by it Dancing is fun. | love i Sometimes a gerund functions as @ countable noun which can be replaced by it (singular) or they (plural): Dickens often gave readings of his work. They were very popular. We can use a gerund after determiners like a, the, this, a ot ofand some, or after possessives and 8The Grammar of Engsh Language copter Verbs in he English Lanquege adjectives: Brendel has made a new recording. The recording was made live. The sinking of the Titanic has never been forgotten | enjoy a litte light reading when | go away on holiday. What's all this arguing? | did somefa lot ofa litle shopping this morning | appriciate your helping me. Your quick thinking saved us all Infinitives The base form of a verb is called the bare infinitive because it is used without “to”. It is distinguished from the to-infinitive, where "fo" is always used in front of the base form of the verb, The bare infiniti is mainly used after modal verbs and in imperative sentences or commands: You can leave whenever you want. He might be late. They would ose the chance. ‘Come in and shut the door Please be seated. Get lost! Other uses of the bare infinitive can be: bare infinitives as complement in the sentence; examples are: He didn't let his wife go out in the evening, That beard makes you /ook much older than you are. Mrs Peterson made her children stay in after school “The crowd wathed the fireman climb the ladder and enter the buiing I watched @ pavement artist draw a portrait in crayons, bare infinitives in fixed expressions: The dog's got a stick between his teeth and he won't let go. We were in a hurry so we had to make dowith a quick snack. You'll have to make you pocket money do. | can’t give you more, Other forms of the infinitive:‘me Grammarot EntshLangunge Chater Verbs inthe ng Langease Tense active Passive Present progressive (to) be doing (to) be done Perfect or past (to) have done (1o) have been done Perfectipast progressive (to) have been doing _—_(to) havefhad been being done Examples We'd better be going, | must be leaving now. He'd like to be sitting in a cafe and (to be be) listening to music. ‘She was known to have! to have had a quick temper as a girl. She is believed fo be going! to have gone to the USA. He is thought to have been killed, The children shouldn't have been playing football on the street, 33 MODAL VERBS Language is not always used just to exchange information ty making simple statements and asking questions. ‘Sometimes we want to make requests, offers, or suggestions, or to express our wishes or intentions. We may ‘want to be polite or tactful, or to indicate our feelings about what we are saying We can do all these things by using a set of verbs called modals (or modal auxiliaries). Modals form a small but significant part of English. They are used with other verbs to express (one of the modalities:) possibility, ability, likelihood, certainty, obligation, ete., of the action English modals include: can; could; may; might; must; ought to; shall; should; wil, would: In some grammars, ‘dare’, ‘need, and used to! are also referred to as modals; however, some other grammars consider the use of ‘dare and ‘used fo' as modal auxiliaries incorrect. For the fact that these three verbs can either be used as modals or as full verbs, in this book they ave called ‘semi-modals. It should also be noted that ‘ought'is sometimes regarded as a modal, rather than ‘ought to: ‘The following chart, extracted from A University Grammar of English (Quirk and Greenbaum, 1976, pp. 52-6) and Collins Cobuild English Grammar (COLLINS Birmingham University International Language Database, 1990, pp. 241-3), will help you to roughly understand the use of modal auxiliaries in English The Use of Modal Auxiliaries cAN- COULDThe Grammar of English Language Ss Chapter: Verbs athe English Langue Modal The use Example Can Abily: be able to, be capable of, | He can speak English but he can write | know how to it very well Permission; be allowed 10, be permitted to (can is less formal than | Can/May I smoke in here? may in this sense) | Theoretical possibilty ——T Rnybody can make mistakes. | (Contrast may = factual possibility) | The road can be blocked. Could | Past ability ~~ Tnever could play the banjo Could I smoke in here? Present or future permission Present possibly We could go to the concert. (theoretical or factual) The road could be blocked Contingent possibility or ability in | If we had more money, we could buy | | unreal conditions acar WAY = MIGHT May Permission: (-be allowed to) You may borrow my carif you like (in this sense may is more formal than | You mustn't borrow my car! an not can. Instead of may not or rare maynt, | allowed to borrow my car/ may not the stronger musint is oflen used inthe | borrow my ca. negative fo express prohibition) Possibility (usually factual) The road may be blocked Might ¥ ~_| Permission (rare) Might | smoke in here? Possibility (theoretical or factual) | @.We might go to the concert b.What you say might be true. SHALL - SHOULD ‘Shall Willingness: (on the part of the | a He shall get his money. speaker in 2nd and 3rd person. | b.You shall do exactly as you wish Restricted use) intention: (on the part of the |a. shan't be Tong speaker, only in 1st person) b.We shall let you know our decision €.We shall overcome. @ Insistence. (Restricted use) | a. You shall do as | say. b.He shall be punished. B, Legal & quasclegal injunction | The vendor shall maintain the equipment in good repair Should | Obligation & logical necessity: | a You should do as he says. 8 They ght to) | should be home by now.The Grammar of Engi Language Chapter it: Verbs inthe English Language (after certain itis a pity that, 1 ‘Putative’ use expressions, e.g am surprised that, allt is odd that you should say this fo me. b. | am sorry that this should have happened. Contingent use: (ist person only and especially BrE) in the main clause (= would) We should love to go abroad. (if we had the chance) In rather formal real conditions If you should change your mind, please let us know. WILL - WOULD Will ‘Willingness. Used in polite requests ‘a.He'll help you if you ask him Will you have another cup of coffee? b.Will you (please, kindly, etc.) open the window? lil write as soon as | can. We won't stay longer than two hours. Intention. Usually contracted Ml; mainly 1st person insistence. Stressed, hence no contraction Prediction Cf. the similar meanings of other expressions for logical necessity and habitual present. The contracted form "11 is common He will do it, whatever you say. He shall do it, insist on his (He insists on doing it. whatever you say = doing it...) He will keep interrupting ‘a. Specific prediction The game will/must/should be finished by now. b. Time prediction: Oil will floatfloats on water. c. Habitual prediction: He'll (always) talk for hours if you give hhim the chance. Would Willingness Would you excuse me? Insistence: Characteristic activity in the past (often aspectual in effect) ‘a. Is your own fault, you would take the baby with you. b. Every morning he would go for a long walk (i.e. it was customary). John would make a mess of it. (informal = it was typical)The Grammar of English Language ‘Chapter M: Verbs in the English Language Contingent use: (in the main clause of | He would smoke too much if | didn’t @ conditional sentence) stop him, Probability | That would be his mother Must 23 Fi Obligation or compulsion (in the present tense) back by 10 o'clock. Yesterday you had to be back by 10 o'clock e obliged to, have (got) to); except me in reported speech, only had to (not Te Be isaac ie Yesterday you said you had tofmust fier [be back by 10 o'clock. You bas needn'tidon't have to/are not obliged (1) = not be obliged to: needn't, don't | to be back by 10 o'clock. have to; There must be a mistake, but: There (2)= be obliged not to: mustn't, | cannot be a mistake. (Logical) necessity Must is not used in / mustn't there be another reason for a his behavior? with negative or interrogative meanings, can being used instead. ‘Must can occur in superficially interrogative but answer- assuming sentences. Ought to | Obligation; logical necessity or | a. You ought to start at once. expectation b.They ought to be here bynow —_| Note: Ought to and should both denote obligation and logical necessity, but are less categorical than must and have fo. Ought to is often felt to be awkward in questions involving inversion, and should is preferred. Still less categorical than ought is had bettertbest (plus bare infinitive): A Must you go? B: Well, | don't have to, but | think I'd better (go). 3.4, THE MODALS AND ASPECT ‘The perfect and progressive aspects are normally excluded when the modal expresses ‘abilty’ or ‘permission’, and also when shall or will express ‘volition’, These aspects are freely used, however, with other modal meanings: € 9 BThe Grammar of English Language Chapter tt; Verbs in the English Language He may have missed the train. He may have been visiting his mother He must have left his umbrella on the bus. Possibility He can't be swimming all day. Necessity: He can't have been working. Prediction: | must be dreaming. You must have been sitting in the sun. The guests will have arrived by now. John will still be reading his paper. ‘Semi-modals: DARE, NEED, USED TO DARE & NEED When used as modals, they have the same meaning as when they are followed by a "to" - infinitive clause. However, they are normally used 8 modals only in negative sentences and in questions, Dare not and need not are often shortened daren and neednt. Inflected forms Unlike other modals, dare has some inflected forms which are occasionally used. Use with other modals, Normally, modals cannot be used with other modals. However dare can be used with wil, would, should, and might. Use with "do" Unlike other modals, dare can be used with the auxiliary verb "do" USED TO Used to has no inflected forms, and cannot be used with other modals. However, used to can be used with the auxiliary "do". It is used to say that something happened regularly or existed in the past, although it no longer Nobody dare disturb him How dare you speak to me like this? Need you go so soon? With his father, he need not fear. No parent dare to treat their child analytically. When it comes, she dare not express her feelings. What nobody dares suggest is that women be told to stay at home. He dare not take his eyes off his assailant. He dared not show he was pleased Nobody will dare override what the towns decide. I wouldn't dare to go to Europe. | shouldn't dare dogmatize about a matter such as this We do not dare examine it Don't you ever dare come here again! She did not dare leave the path. | didn't dare speak or move. She used to get quite cross with her son. Actresses used to be very reluctant to wear tight corsets, They didn't used to mind what we did, (Many people consider this use is incorrect!) 14The Grammar of Engh Languoge happens or exists. Used to is simiar to would when itis used to describe repeated actions in the past. However, unike would, used fo can also describe past states and situations, Used 10 is not common in negative structures; in informal speech, negative Chapter M: Verbs i the English Language Did you used to play with your trains? ‘What used to annoy you most about him? Didn't they used to mind? statements sometimes are made by putting ‘oidnt” in front of used fo. Questions with used (0 are normally formed by putting ‘did’ in front of the subject, followed by used to. Did she not used to smile? (more formal) However, charts like the above, while providing a useful and succinct summary of the form and meaning of modals, give a rather fragmented view of the modals, since they suggest that modals be learned meaning by meaning and form by form. To understand the use of modals better, consideration shouldn't only be given to the individual meanings and forms of modals but also the semantic system; and the best foundation for discussing the systematic meanings of modals is the distinction between ‘social interactional” uses and logical probability’ uses of modals. An example will be useful in making this distinction clear ‘a. You may leave the room, (social interactional) b. It may rain tomorrow, (logical probability) Modals which have a social interactional function require that a person using them properly take into account the characteristics of the social situation. In our first example, the speaker is of sufficient authority to be able to grant permission to the listener. Furthermore, we can also infer that the context is likely a formal one, since the speaker chose to use may rather than can in his or her granting of permission. Knowing the social situation allowed the speaker to select the appropriate modal for this interaction. In the second sentence above, however, knowledge of the social situation would have little or no effect on the modal selected, What the speaker is intending to convey is the relatively low probability of prediction. He or she would likely use may regardless of whom his or her listener was or where the interaction took place. ‘As we have seen with may, virtually all the modals have both social and logical functions. We will now discuss these two areas and follow with some other meaning of modals which do not conveniently fit into these two categories. ‘Social interactional uses of modals: 4. One major system in the social use of modals entails making requests. These can be requests of a general nature: wil//ould/Can/Could you help me with this math problem? or can be of specific requests for permission: May/MlightCan/Could | leave the room? Although historically both present and past forms of these modals can be used in making Is1 cium ree te Chaptr it Verbs inthe English Language requests, only the historical present tense forms are likely to be used in responses to request: To general requests. Yes, I can. (* Yes, | could) Yes, | will (* Yes, | would.) To requests for permission: Yes, You may. (* Yes, you might.) Yes, You can. (* Yes, you could.) The reason for this is that the historical past forms of modals are considered more polite and less presumptuous than the historical present forms, and therefore the person making the Fequest will often use the historical past-tense forms to ‘soften’ the request; however, the person being addressed is expected to respond directly and thus uses historical present forms. Also, the person responding to a request usually does not want to make the response sound Conditional, which is a possible result if the historical past form of the modal is used Q: Could you help me with this math problem? ‘A. Yes, | could (f you would wait a few minutes while I finish this work). Many leamers of English, even at the advanced level, do not recognize that they are often perceived by native speakers as being abrupt and aggressive with their requests. So as leamers, you should know how to soften your requests by employing the historical past- tense forms of the modals, e.g, Could (instead of can) | talk to you a minute? Would (instead of will) you open the door? Note: There is a subtle difference between can/could and will/would in making requests such as that above which also should be pointed out. The former seems to imply: Is this possible ? while the latter forms seem to query the willingness of the person being addressed. When asking for permission, as in the above example, the use of may or canis significant. The greater the listener's degree of formal authority (as perceived by the speaker or asserted by the listener), the more likely the use of may. 2. The other major system in the social interactional use of modals involves the giving of advice. Notice that the systematicity lies in the fact that we can order the modals according to the speaker's degree of authority and/or conviction, or the urgency of the advice: might, could, should, had better, must, wil, e.g., You should see a doctor has a lower degree of authority or urgency than You must see a doctor. Logical probability uses of modals The logical use of some of the same modals typically deals with an inference or prediction, e.9 Donna: Someone's at the door. Mary: It may be Sydney We can establish a hierarchy for the logical use: could, might, may, should, must, will Notice that 16The Grammar of English Language aes ‘Chapter il: Verbs in the English Language adjectives and adverbs can often be used to paraphrase the logical but not the social use of @ modal: could, might = possibly, possible; may = perhaps, quite possible(ly); should = probably, probable, will = certainly, certain, e.9.: It could rain tomorrow. /It is possible that it will rain tomorrow. It will rain tomorrow. /It is certain that it will rain tomorrow. Other uses of modals There are four other uses of modals and modal-like forms which do not function in either the social of logical uses described above: Ability - can: | can speak Vietnamese. Desire - would like to: Sarah would like to travel around the world, Offer - would you like: Would you like anything to drink? Preference - would rather ... than , would prefer to: Van would rather study languages than mathematics. George would prefer to go to school instead of working. Note: In some ways one could argue that would like to and would prefer to are really simply modal + verb + infinitive combinations; however, / will prefer to stay and Will you like some cake? are incorrect, Periphrastic modal counterparts Multiword forms ending in to, which function semantically much like true modals, are called periphrastic modals Modals Periphrastic Modals can be able to will be going to, be about to must have to, have got to should, ought to be to, be supposed to may be allowed to There is generally a difference in the degree of formality between use of @ modal and the corresponding periphrastic modal, the latter being more informal - often other words in the sentence also reflect this difference in degree of formality, e.g Vietnam must conserve its resources. We have to conserve our resources, (less formal) QUESTION FOR REVIEWING 1. State the definition of the verbs in English. Give example(s) for illustration. 7IM: Verbs inthe English Language The Grammar of Engh Language chap 2. How the English verbs are classified? Give example(s) fo illustration. 3, State fuctions of non-finite verbs in English language. Give Example(s) fo ilustration. 4, State functions of gerund in English, give example for illustration. ‘5, How modal and semi-modal verbs are used in English?. Give example(s) for illustration.