A Workbook to Communicative Grammar of English (30 page)

Task one **

Mark each of the underlined dependent clauses in the following sentences as
fact
(F),
hypothesis
(H) or
neutral
(N)

1.
I’m glad
you decided to come
.

2.
It’s time
you came to visit me
.

3.
I’m surprised
they let you out
.

4.
The best thing for him is
to resign
.

5.
I wish
you had decided to come
.

6.
If we’d been in Hungary in 1999,
we’d have seen the total eclipse
.

7.
Did you know
James was going to marry Emma
?

8.
If I were you
, I’d refuse to do it.

9.
If he should postpone the meeting again
, we won’t have time to submit the application.

10.
I doubt
if the application will succeed anyway
.

Task two **

Add one of the following initial phrases to the utterances below to make each one
fact, hypothesis
or
neutral
as stated.

Did you know that

Do you know whether

Had you known

I’d be surprised if

I doubt whether

I’m glad

It’s time

Should you get the job,

Suppose

They were surprised

1.
would you be willing to move home so that you are not so far from the office? (H)

2.
Colin was hurt during the raid? (N)

3.
Anna got the job. (H)

4.
we had a change of government. (H)

5.
NATO had ignored the situation. (H)

6.
most of the charity money from the Lottery goes to projects in the capital? (F)

7.
Jane’s settled in Barcelona at last. (F)

8.
about Ian and Judith, would you still have come on this holiday? (H)

9.
when they got the letter confirming the loan. (F)

10.
we’ll ever know the whole truth. (N)

Task three **

Compare the pairs of sentences below and give reasons for the use of
should
.

1.
If he comes, give him my apologies for not being here to greet him.

If he should come, give him my apologies for not being here to greet him.

2.
It angers me that people are given honours just for doing their job.

It angers me that people should be given honours just for doing their job.

3.
He says the race will take place next year.

He says the race should take place next year.

4.
I’m surprised he’s invited.

I’m surprised he should be invited.

5.
The government has decided to incorporate Human Rights legislation into British law.

The government has decided that Human Rights legislation should be incorporated into British law.

15.3. Degrees of likelihood

Sections 283–292; 461–463; 483; 501; 542

We need not always think in terms of truth or falsehood. There is also a scale of likelihood.

Certainty (or Logical necessity)
expressed with
must
or
have to

Ability
expressed with
can, be able to, be capable of

Predictability
expressed with
will
or
must

Probability
expressed with
should
or
ought to

Possibility
expressed with
can, may, could, might

Tentative possibility
expressed with
could
or
might

Improbability
expressed with
shouldn’t, oughtn’t to, it is improbable/unlikely that

Impossibility
expressed with
can’t, may not, mustn’t

Task one ***

Describe the degrees of likelihood shown in the sentences according to the list below.

Possibility of the fact

Possibility of the idea

Impossibility

Hypothetical possibility

Tentative possibility

Ability

Hypothetical ability

Certainty or logical necessity

Hypothetical necessity

Prediction and predictability

Probability

1.
If the people were persuaded that the Chancellor was lying, the government could lose the next election.

2.
He might have been lying.

3.
You don’t have to be good-looking to be a star, but it helps.

4.
Don’t worry. Gerry’s probably on his way by now.

5.
You shouldn’t have any trouble with this.

6.
I’m sorry. There must have been a fault in the connector.

7.
My grandmother must have been having children over a period of almost thirty years.

8.
The politician couldn’t give his view on the matter because of forthcoming legal proceedings.

9.
There will be fighting in the streets if he claims to have won the election.

10.
Do I have to put down every single detail of what I’ve done during the day?

Task two **

Complete the sentences below with a modal verb or phrase showing the degree of likelihood shown in brackets at the end of the sentence.

1.
Surely they ………….. have chosen him. He’s such a difficult person.

(Impossibility)

2.
There ………….. be someone in this room who saw the accident.

(Logical necessity)

3.
There ……(a)…….. be at least forty people at tonight’s meeting, and

there ……(b)…….. be fifty or even sixty. (a) Probability; (b) Possibility

of fact

4.
It’s not your fault. Someone ………….. have told him. (Certainty)

5.
He’s not up to the job. He ………….. make decisions. (Negative ability)

6.
Anything ………….. happen if you drive when you’re tired. (Possibility

of the idea)

7.
………….. that the northern ice cap will have melted by the end of

the century. (Possibility of fact)

8.
If I ………….. do that, I’d just walk out of the job. (Hypothetical

possibility)

9.
………….. she still be the head after all the trouble there’s been?

(Possibility of fact)

10.
The train didn’t stop in time. There …………. be something wrong

with the braking system. (Logical necessity)

Task three ***

Rewrite the following sentences replacing the modal verb with a suitable expression reflecting the degree of likelihood shown by the modal verb.

1.
Well, she may get the grades she needs for university entrance.

2.
Jobs have got to go. The company has to restructure itself.

3.
Don’t worry. They will give in in the end.

4.
The play should have started by now.

5.
John could make that business work if he wanted to.

6.
There might have been an accident. You don’t know.

7.
After all these years, she can’t still be living in Brook Street.

8.
There should be a bus home after the concert. After all, the concert finishes at 9.30.

9.
She may not be the best 400-metre runner in the world, but she deserves a place in the team.

10.
I must be dreaming. It can’t be you after all these years.

Task four **

Rewrite the sentences below, replacing the phrase underlined with a modal verb where possible.

1.
It was necessary
for someone to tell him to stop; otherwise we’d have had a lot of trouble from the management.

2.
Right from the beginning,
it was very unlikely
that they would have selected her for the team.

3.
It is possible
that by mid-century people will be taking holidays on the moon.

4.
It is almost certain
that the financial director was in deep trouble and has chosen to disappear.

5.
It’s not necessary
to finish the project by the end of the week. The boss told you he doesn’t want the results until the end of the month.

6.
It’s a pity for the old people, but,
unavoidably
, the bus service will be cancelled. Hardly anybody uses it.

7.
Do you know how to
increase the fonts available on this computer?

8.
It’s possible
for them to order a review of the way the money was spent.

9.
They are bound
to have questioned her about the missing documents.

10.
If it were necessary
to choose, would you want to do research or to teach?

15.4. Attitudes to truth

Sections 293–297; 508; 587; 733

To express attitudes to the truth, we often use: a
that
-clause; a
wh
-clause; an adverbial or a comment clause.

We express such attitudes as
certainty
;
doubt
or
uncertainty
;
belief
or
opinion
;
assumption
;
appearance

Task one **

Look at the examples below and then describe ways of showing attitudes to the truth and what each one of the examples expresses.

1.
I just know that he won’t be here on time.

2.
There’s no doubt that, by expressing her disapproval of the plan in such a manner, she upset all her colleagues and lost the argument.

3.
You did take down all his details, I presume.

4.
Obviously he was going to tell us.

5.
It’s unlikely that she will be willing to take on that job.

Task two **

Complete the statements below with a suitable word or phrase which reflects the attitude shown in brackets after the statement. Avoid using a word similar to the one in brackets – e.g. for item 1, avoid using the verb ‘assume’.

1.
I …………. you’ve made all your travel arrangements. (assumption)

2.
…………. nobody bothered to check if the customer had been properly informed. (appearance)

3.
…… my ……., the case should never have gone to court. (opinion)

4.
It’s my …………. she actually arranged for books to arrive too late. Then she could have the test delayed. (belief)

5.
Everyone has …………. been told that they will have to come in to work on Sunday. (assumption)

6.
It …………. to me that we’re all to blame for the accident. (appearance)

7.
David really …………. he could persuade the company to give him special leave. (belief)

8.
Pete was rather naïve to believe that story, ………….? (opinion)

9.
The chairman …………. that everyone will make special arrangements to be able to attend the meeting. (assumption)

10.
I …… (not) ……. we should ever have gone to war over such a minor issue and one that didn’t concern us. (opinion)

Task three **

Rewrite the statements below replacing the phrase underlined and state whether your rewritten phrase shows a) a belief or opinion; b) an assumption; c) an appearance; d) certainty; e) doubt or uncertainty.

1.
I think
the newspaper report suggested she had committed suicide.

2.
He really believes
the world revolves around him.

3.
It appears
that she never had the ring in the first place.

4.
I assumed
you knew exactly what the results of such an action would be.

5.
In my opinion
, we should give in now and take what we have.

6.
It looks as if
he’s not coming.

7.
It is my belief that
during this century overhead cables will disappear and all telecommunication and electricity supplies will come via satellite.

8.
You do know,
I presume
, that this work must be completed within two weeks.

9.
You did behave rather stupidly,
didn’t you
? Telling him he’d made a fatal error of judgement.

10.
I suppose
he’s got there by now.

15.5. Volition

Sections 319–324

We distinguish four types of volition. These are listed in order of increasing strength.