- •1. Kinds of nouns
- •2. Gender
- •3. Plurals
- •4. Uncountable nouns
- •5. Possessive case
- •Adjectives
- •1. Kinds of adjectives
- •2. Participles used as adjectives
- •3. Position of adjectives: attributive and predicative use
- •9. Comparison of adjectives
- •Adverbs
- •1. Kinds of adverbs
- •2. Form and use
- •3. Some words are both adjectives and adverbs:
- •4. Comparative and superlative adverb forms
- •5. Constructions with comparisons.
- •6. Position of adverbs
- •3. Uses of the Present Continuous Tense
- •4. Verbs not normally used in the Continuous Tenses
- •5. See, feel, look, smell and taste used in the continuous
- •6. The Continuous and Non-Continuous Uses of Certain Verbs
- •The simple present tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Spelling Notes
- •3. Uses of the Simple Present Tense
- •4. Other Uses of the Simple Present Tense
- •The past and perfect tenses the simple past tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Spelling Notes
- •3. Uses of the Past Simple Tense
- •4. Used to Indicating Past Habit
- •The past continuous tense
- •1. Form
- •2. Main Uses of the Past Continuous Tense
- •3. Other Uses of the Past Continuous Tense
- •The present perfect tense (simple and continuous)
- •1. Form
- •2. The Present Perfect Used for Past Actions Whose Time is not Definite
- •3. The Present Perfect Used for Actions Occurring in an Incomplete Period
- •4. The Present Perfect (Simple and Continuous) Used for Actions and Situations Continuing up to the Present
- •5. Special Structures in the Present Perfect
- •The past perfect tense (simple, continuous)
- •1. Form
- •3. Past and Past Perfect Tenses in Time Clauses.
- •4. Past Perfect Tense in Main Clause
- •The future
- •1. Future Forms
- •2. The simple present used for the future
- •4. The Present Continuous as a Future Form
- •5. The be going to form
- •6. The Future Simple
- •7. The Future Continuous
- •8. The Future Perfect
- •9. The Future Perfect Continuous
- •The passive voice
- •1. Form
- •2. Various Structures Expressed in the Passive
- •3. Active Tenses and Their Passive Equivalents
- •4. Get in the Passive
- •5. Questions in the passive
- •6. Uses of the Passive: Active or Passive
- •7. The Passive is Used:
- •8. Passive Sentences with or without by:
- •9. Passive with the Verbs Having Two Objects
- •10. Special Passive Patterns
- •11. Verbs Which Cannot be Used in the Passive
- •1. Modal Auxiliary Verbs: General
- •2. Modal Auxiliary Verbs With Perfect Infinitives
- •3. Can, could and be able for ability
- •4. May and Can for Permission
- •5. May and Can for Possibility
- •6. Could as an Alternative to May/Might
- •7. Can in Interrogative and Negative Sentences
- •8. Can Used to Express ‘Theoretical Possibility’
- •9. Set Phrases with Can, May, Might
- •10. Must and Have for Deduction and Assumption
- •11. Must and have to: forms
- •12. Difference between have to and have got to Forms
- •13. Difference between must and have to in the Affirmative
- •14. Need not and must not in the Present and Future
- •15. Must, have to and need in the Interrogative
- •17. Needn’t have done Compared with didn’t have/need to do
- •18. Ought and Should for Obligation
- •The infinitive
- •1. Forms
- •2. Infinitive without to
- •3. The Infinitive Represented by its to
- •4. Split Infinitives
- •5. The Infinitive Used as a Connective Link
- •6. Functions of the infinitive
- •7. The Infinitive as Subject of a Sentence
- •8. The Infinitive as Complement of a Verb
- •9. The Infinitive as Object of a Verb
- •10. The Infinitive as Object of an Adjective
- •11. The Infinitive after Interrogative Conjunction
- •12. The Infinitive as Adverbial Modifier
- •A. TheInfinitive as Adverbial Modifier of Purpose
- •B. The Infinitive asAdverbial Modifier of Result
- •13. The Infinitive as Attribute
- •14. Active and Passive Infinitive with Similar Meaning
- •15. Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction
- •16. Nominative-with-the-Infinitive Construction
- •19. The Infinitive as Parenthesis
- •The gerund
- •1. Form and Use
- •2. Functions of the Gerund
- •3. Verbs Followed by the Gerund
- •Note that:
- •5. Gerunds after Prepositions
- •6. The Verb mind
- •7. Gerunds with Passive Meaning
- •8. The Gerund: Special Cases
- •Infinitive and gerund constructions
- •1. Verbs and Adjectives Which May Take either Infinitive or Gerund
- •M. Accustomed, afraid, ashamed, certain, interested, sorry, sure, used
- •The participles
- •1. The Present (or Active) Participle
- •2. Present Participle after verbs of sensation
- •I saw him enter the room, unlock a drawer, take out a document, photograph it and put it back.
- •4. Go, come, spend, waste, be busy
- •5. A present participle phrase replacing a main clause
- •6. A present participle phrase replacing a subordinate clause
- •7. The perfect participle (active)
- •8. The past participle (passive) and the perfect participle (passive)
- •9. Participles used as adjectives before and after nouns
- •10. Misrelated participles
- •Reported speech
- •1. Main points
- •2. Statements in reported speech 1. If you want to report a statement, you use a ‘that’-clause after certain verbs. The most useful are:
- •Tense changes
- •Indirect speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense. Verbs in the reported clause have to be changed into a corresponding ‘more past’ tense.
- •1. Past Simple and Past Continuous in time clauses do not normally change. The verb in the main clause can either remain unchanged or become the past perfect:
- •5. Time and place expressions in reported speech
- •6. Modals in reported speech
- •7. Reported questions
- •8. Questions beginning Shall I/we…? Such questions can be of different types:
- •9. Reported orders/requests/advice/suggestions, etc.
- •14. Let’s, let him/them in indirect speech 1. Let’s usually expresses a suggestion and is reported by suggest in reported speech:
- •15. Exclamations and yes/no
- •16. Reported speech: mixed types
- •Contents
4. May and Can for Permission
A. Asking for Permission
Can, could, may and might are all used in asking for permission.
If you ask in a very simple and direct way, you use ‘can’. It is probably the commonest of the four.
Can I ask a question?
Can I have a drop more whisky?
Can we have something to wipe our hands please?
‘Could’ is more polite than ‘can’, and is more hesitant than ‘can’, and is used when you are not sure that you will get permission (or you don’t want to sound too sure).
Could I just interrupt a minute?
Could I ask you something, if you’re not too busy?
Could we put this fire on?
The negative-interrogative forms can’t I? and couldn’t I? are used to show that the speaker hopes for an affirmative answer:
Can’t I stay up till the end of the programme?
Couldn’t I pay by check?
‘May’ is also used to ask permission, but this is more formal, though some people consider that ‘can’ is not correct and that one should say May I...? ‘Might’ is rather old-fashioned and is not often used in modern English.
May I have a cigarette?
May I stop work a little earlier tonight?
Might I take the liberty of pointing out that you are wrong?
B.Giving and Refusing Permission
1. When you want to give someone permission to do something, you use ‘can’.
You can wait in my office if you want.
You can smoke if you like.
She can go with you.
‘May’ is also used to give permission, but this is more formal.
You may leave as soon as you have finished.
You may telephone from here. (a written notice)
‘Could’ and ‘might’ are not used to give permission because they suggest respect and are more natural in asking for permission than in giving it.
Could I use your phone? - Yes, of course you can.
Might I trouble you for a light? - You may indeed.
2. To refuse permission we use the negative forms:
Can I have some sweets? - No, you can’t.
Members may not bring more than two visitors into the club.
But sometimes we replace the negative answer No, you may not by a milder expression:
Could we borrow your ladder? - I’m afraid not.
May I see these papers? - I’d rather you didn’t.
We can also use ‘will not’, ‘shall not’ and ‘must’:
I’ll just go upstairs. - You will not.
You shan’t leave without my permission.
Bicycles must not (may not) be left here.
C. Talking about Permission
When we talk about permission that has already been given by someone else, we use can, could and be allowed to.
1. We use ‘can’ to talk about the present or the future, and we use ‘could’ for the past:
Present: Each passenger can take one bag onto the plane.
Future: I can’t have another day off work tomorrow.
Past: Years ago you could park your car anywhere.
We can also use ‘be allowed to’:
Present: Passengers are allowed to take one bag onto the plane.
Future: Will I be allowed to record the interview on tape?
Past: We weren’t allowed to feed the animals at the zoo yesterday.
2. In the past, either ‘could’ or ‘was/were allowed to’ can be used to say that one was allowed to do something at any time (‘general permission’). But we don’t use ‘could’ to talk about permission for one particular action in the past.
I was allowed to see her yesterday evening.
I was allowed to leave work early yesterday.
Not: I could leave work early yesterday.
(This is like the difference between ‘could’ and ‘was able to’.
3. You use ‘be allowed to’ when you are talking about permission, but not when you are asking for it or giving it. Compare questions with ‘may’ and ‘be allowed to’:
May I take a photo of you?
(Asking for permission: ‘Will you allow it?’)
Are we allowed to take photos?
(Asking about permission: ‘What is the rule?’)
4.‘May’ is usually used in more formal situations to say that someone is allowed to do something, and ‘may not’ is used to say that they are not allowed to do it.
If convicted, an accused person may appeal.
The retailer may not sell that book below the publisher’s price.
‘Might’ can be used after a past verb in ‘reported speech’.
Mary said that I might borrow her car.
5. You have to use ‘be allowed to’ instead of a modal if you are using an other modal, or if you want to use an ‘-ing’ form, a past participle, or a to- infinitive.
Teachers will be allowed to decide for themselves.
I’m strongly in favour of people being allowed to put on plays.
They have not been allowed to come.
We were going to be allowed to travel on the trains.