general notes; asking someone to do something; suggestions and offers; permission
Context listening
Mr Kent, Maria and Alex work together. Where do you think they work? What are their jobs?
You are going to hear three conversations.
In which conversation:
does Alex make suggestions or offer to do things?
does Maria ask Alex to do things?
does Alex ask for permission to do things?
Grammar
Modal verbs: general notes
Modal verbs (e.g. can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) are special auxiliaries which add to the meaning of other verbs.
They follow these rules:
Modal verbs never change (we don’t add -s or -ed or -ing to them):
Another verb follows the modal verb, e.g. can + help
He might help. (not he mights help)
I can help
We don’t put to before the second verb:
I can help
(notI can to help).
Negative form
not follows the modal verb:
That will not (or won’t) be necessary.
Question form
The modal verb goes first:
Could you sweep the floor?
Semi-modals
Ought is like other modal verbs but we put to after it:
I/You/He/We/They ought to help. (not They ought help.)
They ought not to bring
need can be a modal verb and a normal verb.
The need to come before 7 for dinner tonight.
They needn't bring wine because we've already bought some.
They don't need to buy wine because we've already bought some.
Asking someone to do something
We never use May you? to ask someone to do something.
(not May you help me?)
Making suggestions and offers
To make a suggestion, we can say:
Shall I/we move some tables outside?
I can make one of my special recipes if you like.
If we are less sure of what we are suggesting, we say
We could serve more interesting food perhaps.
We can also use these expressions:
Why don’t I/we move some tables outside?
Let’s move some tables outside.
How about / What about moving some tables outside?
When we offer to do something, we usually use shall:
Shall I put the advert back in the window? (not Will I put...?)
Asking for, giving and refusing permission
When we give permission or talk about having permission, we use can:
You can borrow my camera.
We can finish work early tomorrow.
When we refuse permission, we use can’t:
You can’t use the phone.
GRAMMAR PRACTICE
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