This is site about English Menu Skip to content Modal Verbs of Ability Posted on 30 Apr 2017 by antripartoblog Can / Be able to (ability in the present/future) ‘Can’ is more usual and less formal than ‘be able to’ when talking about the present or future. Ann can type fast. I can pay you next week. (usual) I will be able to pay you next week. (less usual) Was able to (= managed to do) (ability in the past) is used for either repeated or single actions. I was able to go on a trip round the city last week. (single action) Could (ability in the past) ‘Could’ is more usual than ‘was able to.’ It is used in statements for repeated actions. However, with the verbs see, hear, smell, understand, etc. we normally use ‘could’ for single actions. She could / was able to play the violin when she was six. (repeated action) I could smell something burning. (single action) Could / Was able to can both be used in negations and questions for either repeated or single actions. She couldn’t / wasn’t able to pass her driving test. (past single action) Were you able to / Could you get to work every day’ last week? (past repeated action) Can is used in the present. Could is the past tense of can. We use be able to form all the other tenses. I will be able to get a job when I finish school. Exercise: Complete the sentences with can, can’t, could or couldn’t and the verbs below: Come open read drive use stop I’m sorry I ___________________ to your party on Saturday Oliver’s joke was so funny that we ______________________ laughing. Xenia ____________________ but she hasn’t got a car. “Oh, no, my battery’s dead! I _______________________ my mobile phone.” When Jake was five, he _______________________ and write. Claire tried, but she ___________________ the door. Complete the answers using was/were able to: A: Did you get to the concert on time? B: Yes, although there was traffic, we __________________________________ . A: Did Ben manage to find his watch? B: Yes, after searching the entire house, he __________________________________ . A: Did you finish your work in the garden? B: Yes. It took all afternoon but I ________________________________________ . A: Did you have a hard time finding the place? B: No. We _____________________________________ quite easily. Fill in can/ be able to in the correct form: I __________________________ to speak perfect English very soon. “__________________________ you hear me, Mum?” They _________________________ swim since they were five. When he got to the front door, he ______________________ hear a dog barking inside a house. I would love ______________________ to fly an airplane.

Possessives Posted on 15 May 2017 by antripartoblog Special rules for possessives: We can have two possessive’s forms together: We are fed up with our neighbor’s tenants’ loud music. If the possessive form consists of a compound noun or two or more nouns which form a single team or group, we add the ‘s to the last noun only: Are you coming to my brother in law’s party? (compound noun) I’m a great fan of Lerner and Lowe’s musicals. (they both wrote as a single team.) When the nouns do not form a sing group we must use ‘s with both nouns: Schrodinger’s and Heisenberg’s versions of quantum mechanics had seemed different. (two versions of a theory) If the possessive noun is part of a prepositional phrase, we usually put the ‘s at the end of a phrase: Double possessives We can use a double possessive – noun + of + noun (with possessive ‘s) – to show that first noun means ‘one of several’. We usually use the indefinite article with the pattern: I heard the story from a friend of my brother’s. (= one of my brother’s friends) We do not always include the possessive ‘s with the second noun: They got the information from a friend of the owner. Specifying and classifying possessives Specifying possessives show a relationship with something specific such as a person or place. They usually answer the question ‘Whose…?’ Marion washes the children’s clothes on Tuesdays. (= the clothes belonging to the children) Classifying possessives describe the type of thing something is. They answer the question ‘What kind of…?’ and are similar to compound nouns. Janice has opened a shop specializing in children’s clothes. (= clothes any children can wear)

MUST & HAVE (GOT) TO  Must expresses internal obligation, e.g. I/we must remember to go to the optician’s; Have to expresses external obligation, e.g. I/we have to start wearing glasses. In AmE have got to (usually pronounced gotta) is often preferred over have to or must. A command can be seen as an appeal for some sort of internal obligation on the listener’s part. The power relationship of speaker to listener (register) is important {have to is also possible): You must be home by midnight. You really must leave now, darling. The unacceptability of haven’t to as imperative results in a high frequency of mustn’t: You mustn’t be home late. You haven’t to be home late. You mustn’t tell a soul. Must is also often used in written instructions, or as a formal statement of a rule: All candidates must carry valid identification. Practice Complete these sentences with must, mustn’t, have to, or don’t have to. 1. There’s a funny noise coming from my car. I really ___________ take it into the garage. 2. You really ________be late again. If you are, you might find yourself looking for another job! 3. Thank goodness I_____________ write in English at work! My spelling is awful. 4. The flight’s at ten, and we ___________ check-in at least ninety minutes before. 5. If you get the chance, you really ___________go and see the Van Gogh museum while you’re in Amsterdam. 6. We’re having a leaving party for Anne-Marie and we want it to be a surprise, so you ___________tell her, whatever you do. 7. We ____________be at the hotel by 9.30. Otherwise, the coach will leave without us. 8. I really __________make an appointment at the dentist’s. It’s over six months since I last went. Had to / didn’t have to Put these sentences into the past. 1.I must be at the station by 6.30 tomorrow morning I ______________________________ this morning. 2. I don’t have to be home early today. I_____________________ yesterday. 3. I have to have a word with my boss later . I_________________________ last week. 4. We must get our passports renewed . We _______________________last summer. 5. We have to get a taxi. We _________________ last night. 6. I must e-mail the report by twelve. I __________________this morning. 7. We don’t have to stay till the end, The meeting didn’t finish until eleven, but we _____________________________________ . 8. I must pay my phone bill this week or I’ll be cut off. I _____________________last week before they cut me off.

Word order in reported questions When we report a question, we change the word order of the question – it becomes the same word order as a statement. Note: We do not use auxiliary do, does or did in reported questions: Wrong: He asked what time did the flight leave Paris. Right: He asked what time the flight left Paris. We make the same changes in tense, pronouns and time and place words as for reported statements: The reporter asked, ‘Did you tell us the truth yesterday, Minister?’ The reporter asked the Minister if he had told them the truth the day before. We don’t use question marks in reported questions: Wrong: They asked if I was satisfied with the room? Right: They asked if I was satisfied with the room. Reported yes / no questions We introduce reported yes /no questions with ask / want to know + if or whether: ‘Has your union agreed the new pay deal?’ Reporter asked the leader if his union agreed the new pay deal. ‘Did the Minister answer your questions?’ She asked me whether the Minister had answered my questions. ‘Have you ever lived in this city? Why do you like it?’ They wanted to know if I have always lived in the city and why I liked it. With if and whether, we can add or not at the end of the question: She asked if / whether the Minister had answered my question or not. 3. Reported wh – questions We introduce reported wh – question with ask / want to know + wh-word: ‘When will the article appear in the newspaper?’ They asked us when the article would appear in the newspaper. ‘Where is the cash desk?’ She wanted to know where the cash desk was. We don’t use an object after want to know: Wrong: They wanted to know me why I liked it

TIME expressions Posted on 26 Jun 2017 by antripartoblog A while back / a while ago About time After a while Ahead of time All along / all the while All day long At all times At that point / moment At times / sometimes At the same time At the worst possible time Every now and then / from time to time Every so often / once in a while From now on / from this day forward From way back To have a hard time Have all the time in the world In no time It can wait It’s a matter of time Once and for all Run out of time Day after day /day by day At last At one time For good High time In old days In the meantime Long ago No longer So far Take time Time ou

Informal

Beginning Dear (first name), Thank you/Many thanks for your (recent/last) letter/mail. It was great/good/nice to hear from you. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch/written/contact you for such a long time. It’s been ages since I’ve heard from you. I hope you’re/you and your family are well. Inquiring about their news Hi! How are the things? How are you? How’s it going? Great news about … Glad to hear that … Sorry to hear about … Giving news Listen, did I tell you about … You’ll never believe what … Oh, and another thing … This is just to let you know that … I thought you might be interested to hear about/know that … By the way, have you heard about/did you know that … Apologies I’m writing to apologise for missing your birthday party but I got down with flu. I’m really sorry that I forgot to send you a birthday card but I was busy with my new job. If you let me know where you bought it/how much it cost I’ll gladly pay for it/replace it. Please let me know how much the bill is and I’ll gladly pay it. Invitations I’m/We’re having a party on Saturday 2nd and I/we hope you’ll be able to come. Would you like to come/go to see a movie with me on Sunday? I was wondering if you’d like to go to the theatre/camping with us? Could you let me/us know if you can come/you’d like to join us? Thank you very much for your invitation. I’d love to come. Thank you for asking/inviting me to … but I’m afraid I won’t be able to … Requests I’m writing to ask for your help/you (if you could do me) a favour. I wonder if/I was wondering if you could help me/do me a favour. I hope you don’t mind me asking but could you (possibly) …? I’d be very/really/terribly grateful if you could … Thank you, Congratulations, Good Luck I’m writing to thank you for your hospitality/the wonderful present. It was so kind of you to invite me to stay with you. I really appreciated all your help/advice. Congratulations on passing your exams/your excellent exam results! I wish you good luck/Good luck in/with your exams/your driving test/your interview. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do well/pass. Do be on time, won’t you, and don’t forget to … Making suggestions and recommend. Why don’t you …? Maybe you could …? How about …? You can’t leave London without doing sth I’m sure you will enjoy doing sth If you like, we can … Do visit somewhere Don’t forget to do sth (Imperative -> Strong Recommendation) I’m told that … People say that … (If you heard sth is good) Endings Give my love/regards to … Say hello to … Hope to hear from you soon. See you soon! Write soon. Once again, thank you for all your help. Signing off Love, Lots of love, Yours, Best wishes, First name

Formal letter

A formal letter is a letter written to someone you do not know, therefore you should generally use more formal language than in letters you write to your family or friends, avoid phrasal verbs and involve more complex sentence structure.

Here are some useful phrases for formal letter writing:

Dear Mr/Ms (surname),                             Dear Sir/Madam/Sir or Madam,

Reasons for writing

I am writing to …

I am writing with regard to …

I am writing on behalf of …

I am writing this letter to inquire about…

With reference to your letter of May 5th…

With reference to your phone call today…

Asking questions

I would be grateful if you could…

I wonder if you could …

Could you …? Could you tell me something about …?

Could you possibly…?

I would particularly like to know …

I would be interested in having more details about …

Referring to their letter

As you stated in your letter, …

Regarding … Concerning … With regard to …

Closing

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

Feel free to contact us again if we can help in any way.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Signing off

(If Dear surname) Yours sincerely,

(If Dear Sir/Madam) Yours faithfully,

Signature

First name + surname