Collins Cobuild English Grammar (111 page)

News organizations
ought not
treat them so poorly. (American)

After
could
,
might
,
must
,
ought
,
should
, and
would
,
not
is often shortened to
-n’t
and is added to the modal.

You
mustn’t
talk about Ron like this.
Perhaps I
oughtn’t to
confess this.
He
oughtn’t
turn away from those who have supported him. (American)

Shall not
,
will not
, and
cannot
are shortened to
shan’t
,
won’t
, and
can’t
.
May not
is not shortened at all.

I
shan’t
get much work done tonight.
He
won’t
be finished for at least another half an hour.
I
can’t
go with you.

questions

5.103
   Questions are formed by putting the modal in front of the subject. In the case of
ought to
, you put
ought
in front of the subject and
to
after it.

Could you
give me an example?
Ought we to
tell someone about it?
Might
n’t
it
be better to leave things as they are?
Why
could they
not leave her alone?
Must we
explain everything we do in such detail?

question tags

5.104
   Modals are used in
question tags
.

They can’t all be right,
can they
?
You won’t tell anyone,
will you
?

With a negative tag, the shortened form of the negative is used.

It would be handy,
wouldn’t it
?
It’ll give you time to think about it,
won’t it
?

Question tags are explained in paragraphs
5.15
to
5.19
.

contractions

5.105
   In spoken English, when
will
and
would
are used after a pronoun, they are often shortened to
-’ll
and
-’d
and added to the pronoun.

I hope you’
ll
agree.
She’
ll
be all right.
They’
d
both call each other horrible names.
If I went back on the train, it’
d
be better.

Will
and
would
cannot be shortened like this when they are used on their own, without a following verb. For example, you can say
Paul said he would come, and I hope he will
, but you cannot say
Paul said he would come, and I hope he’ll
.

USAGE NOTE

5.106
   You sometimes use a modal on its own, without a following verb. You do this when you are repeating a modal. For example, if someone says
I expect Margaret will come tonight
, you can say
I hope she will
, meaning
I hope she will come
.

‘I
must go
.’ – ‘I suppose you
must
.’
‘You
should have become an archaeologist
.’ – ‘You’re dead right, I
should
.’
If you
can’t do it
, we’ll find someone who
can
.

You also omit the verb following a modal when this verb has just been used without a modal, or with a different modal. For example, if someone says
George has failed his exam
, you can say
I thought he would
, meaning
I thought he would fail his exam
.

I
love
him and I always
will
.
They had come to believe that it not only
must go on for ever
but that it
should
.

However you cannot omit the verb
be
after a modal when you have just used it without a modal. For example, if someone says
Is he a teacher
?, you cannot say
I think he might
. You must say
I think he might be
.

Weather forecasts
are
n’t very reliable and never
will be
.
The Board’s methods
are
not as stringent as they
could be
.
Relations between the two countries
have not been
as smooth as they
might have been
.

For more information on leaving out words in verb phrases see paragraphs
10.60
to
10.81
.

Referring to time

5.107
   Modals do not usually show whether you are talking about the past, the present, or the future. Usually you indicate this in other ways, for example by putting an auxiliary verb and a participle after the modal. Sometimes the general context makes it clear whether you are talking about a past, present, or future event or situation.

the future:
shall
and
will

5.108
   
Shall
and
will
are exceptions to this.

Shall
always indicates that you are talking about a future event or situation.

I
shall
do what you suggested.
Eventually we
shall
find a solution.

Will
usually shows that you are talking about a future event or situation.

The farmer
will
feel more responsible towards his workers.
He
will
not return for many hours.

However,
will
is sometimes used to talk about present situations.

You
will
not feel much love for him at the moment.

This use of
will
is described in paragraph
5.121
.

5.109
   
Could
and
would
are sometimes described as past tense forms of
can
and
will
. However, this is true in only a few minor ways. These are explained in the following paragraphs.

ability in the past:
could

5.110
   
Could
can be regarded as the past tense of
can
if you are simply talking about the ability of a person or thing to do something.

For example, if you are talking about a living person, you can say
He can speak Russian and Finnish
. If you are talking about a dead person, you can say
He could speak Russian and Finnish
.

For a fuller explanation of these uses see paragraphs
5.116
to
5.118
.

reported speech

5.111
   
Could
and
would
are sometimes used in place of
can
and
will
when you are reporting what someone has said.

For example, if your friend has said
I can come
, you might report this as
He said that he could come
. Similarly, if he has said,
I will come
, you might report this as
He said that he would come
.

For a full explanation of
reported speech
see
Chapter 7
.

things that happened regularly in the past:
would

5.112
   
Would
is used to talk about something that happened regularly in the past, but no longer happens.

The other children
would
tease me and call me names.
A man with a list
would
come round and say you could go off duty.

When you use
would
like this, you often add a time expression.

She would
often
hear him grumbling.
Once in a while
she’d give me some lilac to take home.
Every day
I’d ring up home and ask if they’d changed their minds.

You can use
used to
instead of
would
.
Used to
is explained in paragraphs
5.252
to
5.256
.

thinking about the future:
would

5.113
   
Would
is also used in stories to talk about the thoughts that someone is having about the future. For example, if a character in a story is thinking that she will see a girl called Jane the next day, the author might simply say
She would see Jane the next day
.

He
would
recognize it when he heard it again.
They
would
reach the castle some time.

refusing to do something:
would not

5.114
   When
would
is used with
not
to talk about something that happened in the past, it has a special meaning. It is used to say that someone refused to do something.

They just
would not
believe what we told them.
After all this, I
wouldn’t
come back to the farm.