Grammar supplement e specific nouns

Note that nouns in English can be divided into countable and uncountable. Countable nouns have a singular and a plural form; uncountable nouns have only one form. Law is a countable noun; legislation is an uncountable noun.

Collective nouns such as police, jury can be used either in the singular or the plural. In other words we can say both:

the police interrogate ...

the police interrogates ...

We use the noun in a plural form when we view them as a group of individuals; we use the noun in the singular form when we view them as a single collective entity.

1 Police are searching for the killer.

2 The jury find the prisoner not guilty.

Some specific nouns such as evidence, information, news, money, advice can be only in the singular:

1 It is unexpected evidence.

2 The information was received through the Internet.

3 The news speaks for itself.

4 The money was transferred yesterday.

5 His advice was very helpful.

Note: a piece of evidence

a piece of information

a piece of advice

Grammar supplement f modal verbs

Modal verbs are used to show the speaker’s attitude to the action. We use them with other verbs. There are 10 modals: can, may, must, shall, will, would, should, ought to, need, dare. Modal verbs are not “complete” verbs. They are called defective (except dare and need) because they lack component tenses, the passive and have some other peculiarities:

1. We can’t use them as “to”-infinitives: to go, to speak.

2. We don’t use the “to”-infinitives after modals:

3. There is no –(e)s in the 3^rd person singular:

In their first use modal verbs have basic meanings which are given in the dictionaries:

can / could – ability I can lift 25 kg / I can type;

shall / will / would – prediction It will rain soon;

may / might – permission You may leave early;

should / ought to – duty You should do as you are told;

must – total obligation You must be quiet;

needn’t – no obligation You needn’t wait.

The second use of modal verbs is to express degrees of certainty or uncertainty.

Future

will (’ll) – He’ll be there now, certainly. Він напевно зараз там буде. (100%).

should – Не should be there now, I think. Він, певно, там буде, я думаю. (75%).

may – Не may be there now, but I’m not sure. Він, можливо, буде там, але я не впевнений. (50%).

might – Не might be there, but I doubt it. Він навряд чи буде там, я маю сумнів. (75%).

won’t (will not) – Не won’t be there, I’m sure. Його там не буде, я певний. (100%).

Present

must / will – They must know it, they were told. Вони напевно знають про це, їм сказали. (100%).

should – They should know it, it was announced. Вони, певно, знають, про це повідомляли. (75%).

may – They may know it, I’m really not sure. Вони, можливо, знають про це, але я не впевнений. (50%).

might – They might know it, but they were out. Вони навряд чи знають про це, їх не було. (75%).

Grammar supplement f continuation

can’t – They can’t know it, it was announced right now. Вони напевно не знають, про це тільки що повідомили. (100%).

Past

must + Perfect Infinitive – They must have arrived by now, it’s already 9 o’clock. Вони, напевно, вже приїхали, вже 9 година. (100%).

should + Perfect Infinitive – They should have arrived by now, I think. Вони, певно, вже приїхали, я так думаю. (75%).

may + Perfect Infinitive – They may have arrived by now, but the trains are often late. Вони, можливо, вже приїхали, але потяги часто запізнюються. (50%).

might + Perfect Infinitive – They might have arrived by now, but I doubt it. Вони навряд вже приїхали, я маю сумнів. (75%).

can’t + Perfect Infinitive – They can’t have arrived by now, it’s too early. Вони, напевно, ще не приїхали, ще надто рано. (100%).