English grammar for university students. Part 3. Учебное пособие

She will be at home by now. Let’s go and see her.

Characteristic behavior or habits, universal truths

He will come here every day to watch sea birds.

A baby will recognise its mother's voice soon after it is born. Cold weather will kill certain plants.

Volition, willingness, intention

I’m not a political kind of person. I will never vote, and I have never voted. Jenny won’t eat cabbage, she hates it.

Refusal of a thing to work in the way it should is also rendered by won’t

The top won't come off.

The key won't fit the lock.

Polite request

Will you please open the door?

Exercises

Exercise 1. Match sentences with their responses and comment on the meaning

Exercise 3. Make ten predictions for the future of your groupmate using the modal verb will.

WOULD

Would was originally the past tense of will in the same way as should was the past tense of shall. But while the latter has acquired new shades of meaning, would has preserved those of will.

Volition, willingness

In this meaning it is mostly used in negative sentences.

She was going away and would not say where she was going. He was upset because I wouldn’t talk to him.

It is also used in speaking about lifeless things in the same way as will, but in this use would is more common than will.

The car wouldn’t start, so I had to take a cab.

Habitual actions in the past

I would try to stay awake every Xmas to see Santa.

Each summer we would visit my cousins.

Used to + Infinitive is also used in this meaning. It is more common in informal English.

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Did your children use to sleep well when they were babies?

I didn't use to like visiting the dentist when I was young.

We use used to but not would when we talk about past states that have changed

The factory used to be in the city centre.

I used to smoke heavily when I was at university.

When we use would we need to mention a specific time or set of occasions. Compare:

We used to play in the garden. (not We would play...)

Whenever we went to my Uncle Frank's house, we would / used to play in the garden.

We don't use either used to or would when we say exactly how many times something happened, how long something took, or that something happened at a particular time:

We visited Switzerland four times during the 1970s.

She went on holiday to the Bahamas last week (Hewings, 2002).

Polite request

Would it be all right if I left early?

Would you mind closing the window?

Exercises

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Exercise 1. Correct the sentences if necessary.

1.I had to work late on Friday, so my mother would pick up Sue from school.

2.Mary wouldn't sing for me, even though I often asked her to. 3. The moment I asked Steve, he would agree to lend me the car for the day. 4. 4 When I phoned, the receptionist wouldn't let me have an appointment with Dr Johnson before next week. 5. At the interview they wouldn't tell me how much travelling was involved in the job. 6. Yesterday he would make me sandwiches and would bring me a cup of coffee. 7. When I had problems with my homework last night, my father would do it for me. 8. Five years ago, the children in this school would help to plant all the trees you see before you. 9. Before he moved to London, Thomas would meet me every day after work. 10. When I was young, shopkeepers would cycle around town, delivering food to customers. 11. There's a boy in my maths class who will ask the most ridiculous questions. 12. Jack would return three days ago from a holiday in France.13. I would enjoy studying Latin when I was at school. 14. You used to teach at Halston University, didn’t you?

2. Complete these sentences with will, would or used to. If more than one answer is possible, write them both.

1 I …………. like going to pop concerts when I was a teenager. 2 Business people …………. watch what their competitors are doing with great interest. 3 The country now known as Myanmar …………. be called Burma. 4 My father didn't know that we …………. borrow the car when he was at work. 5 When I was a child, summers …………. be warmer and winters colder than now. 6 Accidents …………. happen in the house, however safe we try to make it. 7 When the weather was good, we …………. go walking in the hills every weekend. 8. When I was at school all the children …………. stand up in silence when the teacher came into the room. 9. Even when it's freezing cold, some people

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…………. wear just jeans and a T-shirt. 10. When I was younger I ………….

spend hours just kicking a ball around the garden.

SHALL

The modal verb shall is used to express a range of communicative functions.

Talking about or predicting the future with I and we (old-fashioned).

This time next week I shall be in Chile.

I said that I should be pleased to help.

Offer, suggestion or asking advice

Shall I send you the book?

What shall we do this weekend?

Let's look at it again, shall we?

Determination on the part of the speaker, order, threat or warning, promise

(old-fashioned or formal)

He is determined that you shall succeed.

Candidates shall remain in their seats until all the papers have been collected.

Exercises

Exercise 1. State the meaning of the modal verbs and translate the sentences into Russian.

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1. "Let us return to Lady Audley and her secret, shall we?" 2. Words are useless. I've begged him. He won't listen. 3. I shall never forgive him. Never, never, never. Not if he were to kneel at my feet for twenty years. 4. If you will just tell me who it is, then I will speak to the parents and the schoolmistress about it. 5. I just want to be set free, she said. I couldn't get her to say anything more. It was horrible, she suddenly wouldn't speak, so I had to leave her. 6. Will you want to go on seeing me? Of course I will. 7. Well, I said, shall we go up? 8. Would you consider selling this, I asked? 9. "And will you tell me the truth?" "I will tell you the truth." The words were unambiguous enough, but I heard the tremor that undermined them. 10. "Oh dear," said Judith. "Shall I bring cocoa?" "With a touch of brandy in it, I think", he said.

Exercise 2. Decide, whether these questions are requests, offers, suggestions. or asking for permission.

1. You don’t look too good. Shall I call a doctor for you? 2. I’m sorry, but would it be all right if I leave these papers here? 3. This train is running rather late. Would you like me to go out and ask what is happening? 4. Would you post these letters for me on your way to work? 5. Let’s get down to business, shall we? 6. I know he hates bad news. I’ll tell him if you like. 7. Would you mind being a bit quitter? 8. Could I use your phone for a minute? 9. Would you mind if I had a quick look at your newspaper? 10. Can you pick up some milk for me when you go out? 11. Do you want to lay the table for me? 11. Shall we cancel the holiday?

Exercise 3. Use situations and instructions to make requests, offers, or ask for permission.

1. The phone is ringing. Offer to answer it. 2. You are writing a letter to a travel company. Request their brochure. 3. You are in a friend’s house. It’s hot. Ask

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permission to open the window. 4. Your friend needs to go to the airport. Offer to drive him there. 5. You are at a restaurant table with friends. Request the salt. 6. You need a day off work. Ask your boss for permission. 7. Your new neighbor is playing loud music. Ask her to turn it down.

Exercise 4. Work with a partner. Think of a real or imaginary problem and ask for advice.

E.g.

I want to speak good English, but I am shy talking to strangers. What shall I do?

NEED

Need expresses necessity. It is mostly used in negative and interrogative sentences.

It can also be used as an ordinary verb. Compare:

I need to leave early.

She is hungry. She needs a bite.

We use don’t need to in order to talk about general necessity rather than permission not to do something.

You needn’t cut the grass, I’ll do it later.

You don’t need to be over 18 to get into a night club.

We can use needn’t or don’t have to with little difference in meaning in order to express absence of necessity.

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When we say that it was not necessary to do something in the past, and it wasn't done, we use didn't need to or didn't have to. To show that we think something that was done was not, in fact, necessary we use need not have

I suppose I needn’t have made that observation. That was rude.

We’ve been told we didn’t have to come to work early in the morning. We could come later.

Exercises

Exercise 1. Complete the sentences with either needn't have or didn't need to followed by an appropriate verb.

1 I bought a new car last year, and then a month later I won one in a competition. So I …………. all that money.

2 I …………. an interview. They accepted me without one.

3 The accident …………. if only Tom had got his lights repaired when he said he was going to.

4 I got a lift to the station, so I …………. a taxi after all.

5 Sue was feeling a lot better by the weekend, so we …………. her shopping for her.

Exercise 2. Rewrite the sentences using must, have to, need, should, and

ought.

1.Is Saturday morning school compulsory in your country? Do students_______________________________________?

2.Sheila changed the battery in her camera, but it wasn’t necessary.

Sheila ________________________________________the battery of her cam-

era.

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3. You look really ill. If I were you I’d stay at home.

You look really ill. You _____________________________to stay at home. 4. It was a bad idea to leave the windows open while it was raining.

You __________________________________________________________

5. The theatre tickets were free, so there was no need for us to pay.

The theatre tickets were free, so we _________________________________

6. I can stay here until 10.

I ________________________________________________ leave until 10.

7. Steve’s laptop had a wireless internet connection, so there was no need for him to connect it to a phone line.

Steve’s laptop had a wireless internet connection, so he

____________________.

Revision exercises

Exercise 1. Use can, may, must, need, have to and the appropriate form of the Infinitive.

1. Anyone who was outside at ten o'clock last night ……. (see) a greenish glow in the sky. 2. Have you seen the new art gallery? You ……… (notice) it when you drove through the centre of town. 3. Sarah looked so different that I ……. (walk) past without recognising her if she hadn't said 'hello'. 4. I ……. (remember) where I've seen George before. I think I ……. (meet) him 10 years ago at a conference in Prague. 5. He …. (help) if he had really wanted to. 6. I'll take something to read when I go for my appointment at the hospital. I ……… for a few hours before I see the doctor. 7. A: I catch a train to go to work at half past six. B: You (get up) really early, then? 8. I suppose that before the irrigation channels were dug, villagers ……... (carry) water all the way from the river for

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