VI. Can (could) in Special Questions
The modal verb can may be used to make a sentence more emotional. Such sentences have the form of questions but are not questions because the speaker does not really expect an answer.
A when where can smb do/have done smth why how
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e.g. 1) Oh, Jack, how can you! – Don’t mind him, darling. He is only teasing.
2) Where can I have left my spectacles!
3) When can it have happened!
B what who can do/have done smth which |
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e.g. 1) What can it mean!
2) Who can it have been!
3) Which of the two can have taken it!
Exercise 9.
Make the following sentences more emotional.
I wonder where he is now.
I wonder why he said so.
I have no idea who wrote that letter.
The room was locked. How did he get in?
What astonishes me is why he left that note.
I wonder why she is taking so much trouble.
The entrance was watched all the time. When did he get out, I’m asking you?
I wonder how it was possible for him to find us in that crowd.
It astonishes me that you find pleasure in reading such stuff.
I wonder which of the children is writing these things on the blackboard.
VII. “Could” as a form expressing unreality
Exercise 1.
Make the following sentences hypothetical by changing the form of the verb. Translate the sentences into Russian.
Model:
I can do it to-night. - I could do it to-night.
Я могу это сделать - Я бы могла это сделать сегодня вечером. сегодня вечером.
He can help you, but he does not want to bother.
Of course, I can translate it.
I think I can show you how to do it.
You can go and tell her about it.
You can always go to someone else.
She can see a doctor about it.
He can easily get there in twenty minutes.
No one can do it in this time.
Exercise 2.
Refer the following sentences to the past. Make them hypothetical by changing the form of the infinitive.
Model:
I can do everything you do.
I could do everything you did. – I could have done everything you did.
I can read the inscription from where I am sitting.
I can wear my mother’s shoes.
I cannot understand what it means.
Nobody can do it better.
People can hear you talking late at night.
We can play in the garden.
She cannot believe her eyes.
You can reach the hotel in five minutes.
You can get the book from the library.
We can go for a walk.
Exercise 3.
Translate into Russian.
I have to take my youngest to the kindergarten, otherwise I could explain it to you now.
She could read fluently and expressively when she was six.
Of course, I could have taken the short cut across the birch grove, but I did not want to in the dark.
I could do it only because we had no lectures that day.
It’s only ten to five, I think we could do it if we ran all the way.
You could have done it quite well if you had only tried.
How can I describe it to you? – You could try.
There’s something wrong with your torch. I tried and tried, but I could not make it work.
Exercise 4.
Translate into English.
Я бы не смогла пойти вчера в кино.
Я не смогла перевести надпись без словаря.
Мне жаль, что его нет дома. Он бы мог помочь вам.
Мне жаль, что его не было дома. Он бы мог помочь вам.
Он мог решать такие задачи, когда ему было десять лет.
Он смог бы решить такую задачу, когда ему было десять лет.
Мог бы он научить меня произносить этот звук?
Он мог научить её произносить этот звук правильно только потому, что она очень старалась.
Никто не смог бы научить ее произносить этот звук правильно, потому что она не хотела учиться.
Мне жаль, что погода плохая, я могла бы показать вам такие красивые места в парке.
Жаль, что погода была плохая, я могла бы погулять в парке.
Погода была хорошая, и мы могли гулять в парке каждое утро.
Погода очень хорошая, и мы могли бы пойти гулять без пальто.