Modal verbs and related phrases

* Recuerda: los modales no llevan to
I must finish my work.
I have to finish my work.
They make me fisnis my work.
I had to finish my work fastly.
The made me finish my work.

You should finish your task./ you should have finished your task.
I ought to finish my task/ I ought to have finished my task
I am supposed to finish my task/I was supposed to finish my task
I don’t ave to finish my task/ I didn’t have to finis my task
You musn’t finish your task /
I can’t finish my task
I am not alowwed to finihs my task
i could’t finish my task

I wasnt’ allowed to finish my task
i shouldn’t have finish my task
I oughtn’t to finish my task I oughtn’t to have finished my task
I am not supposed to finish my task
I wasn’t supposed to finish my task
I can finish my task I could finish my task
I am allowed to finish my task /I was allowed
I may finihs my task I might finish my task
Let me finish my task
I can/cant’/I could
I am be able to finish my task I was be able to finish my task
I manage to finish my task / I managed to
I don’t manage to finish my task/ I didn’t manage to finish my task

which, wich, witch, with

Which of these is yours?-> cual de estos es vuestro?

 

  • Which is best? -> ‘Cual’
  • The noun witch denotes a woman who performs magic using spells, potions, and the invocation of spirits.–> Bruja
  • Pie with chocolate -> ‘con’

Mandie Michelle Sanders Poems

A Promise To Myself
I promise to be confident
I promise to be true
I promise to not be so hard on myself
I promise to start new
I promise to not call myself ugly
I promise to not fall apart
I promise to cry when I’m happy
I promise to be strong
I promise to not be selfish
I promise to be myself 
I promise to be my own kind of beautiful
I promise not to be jealous of anyone else
I promise to always smile
I promise to be sweet
I promise to make good decisions
I promise to be healthy
I promise to always hope
I promise to not give up
I promise to be a good friend
I promise to not call myself a fuck up
I promise to be honest
I promise to shine
I promise to fight to the end
I promise to protect what’s mine
I promise to not call myself fat
I promise to just relax
I promise to believe in myself
I promise to ignore what’s being said behind my back
I promise to do my best
I promise to love unconditionally
I promise to live like there is no tomorrow
I promise to not give up on me
—————————————-
I choose poem

Today

I Choose to sit quietly in the sun and watch copper winged dragonflies

I Choose to be still and listen

I Choose to be open to whatever presents itself

I Choose to be kind and refrain from judgement of others

I Choose to drink copious amounts of tea

I Choose to purge my thoughts and feelings and writewritewrite until there is nothing left inside to come out

I Choose to smile at everyone and not care if they think “Who is this crazy smiling lady and what is she so happy about?”

I Choose to project happiness into the coming week

I Choose not to allow other’s insecurities and fears infect me with self-doubt

I Choose to take time throughout the day and send heartfelt virtual hugs to those I care about

I Choose to accept this moment, right now, and savor the essence before it slips away

I Choose to step with love, creating a safe path in hopes that others will join me on my journey

I Choose to stand tall (a full five feet 2 inches), face life head on, saying “C’mon! Gimmee all you got!! Don’t hold back because I can handle it!”

Emphatic do, does, did and other auxiliaries.

Adding emphasis by stressing the auxiliary

When we want to add emphasis to a verb, we often stress the auxiliary (say it louder), shown here by underlining. We do this especially when we want to correct what somebody thinks, or contrast it with something else – (contrastive emphasis).
  • Continuous – Why aren’t you going to the party?
  • – But I am going to the party!
  • – I can’t go to this one, but I am going to the one next week.
  • Perfect – You haven’t tidied your room!
  • – I have tidied it! I did it this morning.
  • – I know, but I have put my clothes away.
  • Modal – Is it because you can’t dance?
  • – But I can dance! Just look!
  • – I can’t dance the paso doble, but I can dance the tango.
Note about contractions – when using these emphatic forms we don’t use contractions in positive forms, even when speaking informally.

But what about simple tenses?

As you know, we usually only use the auxiliary verb do to make the negative and question forms of present simple and past simple tenses, not in positive (affirmative) forms.
I work He works
I don’t work He doesn’t work
Do you work? Does he work?
 
We worked She worked
We didn’t work She didn’t work
Did you work? Did she work?
So when we want to add emphasis to present simple or past simple tenses, we need to add auxiliary do, remembering to use the main verb in First form. This is sometimes called emphatic do:
  • Present simple – She doesn’t like cheese, does she?
  • – But she does like cheese! In fact she loves it.
  • – I don’t like cottage cheese, but I do like blue cheese.
  • Past simple – You said you would phone me!
  • – I did phone you! But you didn’t answer.
  • – OK, I didn’t phone you, but I did send you a text (SMS).
And when you see forms of the auxiliary do in positive sentences in written English, it is always stressed.

Other times we add emphasis

We also use emphatic auxiliaries (including do) to stress that we feel strongly about something – (emotive emphasis)
  • She does look good in that dress.
  • He is putting on a bit of weight.
  • Her English really has improved an awful lot.
  • You really must see this new film.
  • I did enjoy that party last night.
  • I never did understand what he saw in her.
And we also use emphatic auxiliaries to confirm something we think is true, following it with a question tag.
  • He does eat meat, doesn’t he?
  • She is coming to the party, isn’t she?
  • He has spoken to you about this, hasn’t he?
  • You can work late tonight, can’t you?
  • You did phone Jenny, didn’t you.
We use also use emphatic do in present simple to strengthen an imperative.
  • Do stop going on about it, will you?
  • Do try this cake, it’s delicious.
And we can stress do and other auxiliaries in short answers.
  • You don’t like cheese, do you? – Yes, I do. Whatever gave you that idea?
  • Mark doesn’t eat meat, does he? – Actually, he does nowadays.
  • You fancy Mark, don’t you? – No, I don’t! What, me and Mark? Don’t be silly!
  • But you’ve been out with him, haven’t you? – No, I haven’t!
  • You’re not telling the truth, are you? – Yes, I am.
  • But you’re blushing, aren’t you? – No, I’m not.
We also use emphatic auxiliaries after if, when we are in some doubt as to whether the condition will be, or has been, fulfilled. This often happens when replying to someone, in which case short forms can be (and often are) used.
  • A: I don’t think I’ll be seeing Paul today.
    B: Well, if you do (see him), can you ask him to get in touch with me.
  • A: I wonder if he’s coming to tomorrow’s meeting.
    B: Well, if he isn’t (coming), he should have told us by now.
  • A: Perhaps he’s left a message with his assistant.
    B: If he has (left a message), she hasn’t passed it on.
Negatives – note that with negatives we stress the normal contracted negative form, except in 1st person singular in the present simple of the verb to be, and the present continuous of other verbs, where we stress not: – No, she isn’t BUT No, I’m not.
Trivial information – Because do is not used in all forms of simple tenses, it is sometimes called the dummy auxiliary. And linguists sometimes refer to its use in questions, negatives and for emphasis as do-support.

Present Participle

Se forma con las terminaciones -ing del verbo: stealing, watching ….etc.

Se usa para en las formas progresivas: 

  • I am working.
  • He was singing.
  • They have been walking.
  • I have watching
  • We will be staying.
  • She would have been expecting me.
EL “PRESENT PARTICIPLE” TRAS VERBOS DE MOVIMIENTO Y POSICIÓN

Esta construcción es particularmente útil con el verbo “to go”.

  • She went shopping.
  • I go running every morning.
  • He lay looking up at the clouds.
  • She came running towards me.
EL “PRESENT PARTICIPLE” TRAS VERBOS DE PERCEPCIÓN

En este uso, la estructura seguida es verbo + objeto + “present participle”. Cuando estas oraciones contienen un infinitivo sin “to” en lugar de un participio, el significado varía. El infinitivo se refiere a una acción terminada, mientras que el “present participle” implica una acción en progreso.

EJEMPLOS
  • I heard someone singing.
  • He saw his friend walking along the road.
  • I can smell something burning!
  • I watched the birds flying away.
EL “PRESENT PARTICIPLE” COMO ADJETIVO (el que te genera más dudas)
EJEMPLOS
  • It was an amazing film.
  • Dark billowing clouds often precede a storm.
  • He was trapped inside the burning house.
  • Many of his paintings show the setting sun.
  • The section of Kate’s book explaining (adj) the rules of queuing (adj) is interesting (Present continuous) …. –> la sección del libro que explica las reglas de encolado es interesante 
EL “PRESENT PARTICIPLE” CON LOS VERBOS “SPEND” Y “WASTE”

Con estos verbos, la construcción sigue la forma verbo + expresión de tiempo o dinero + “present participle”.

EJEMPLOS
  • My boss spends two hours a day travelling to work.
  • Don’t waste time playing computer games!
  • They’ve spent the whole day shopping.
  • I wasted money buying this game.
EL “PRESENT PARTICIPLE” CON LOS VERBOS “CATCH” Y “FIND”

La construcción con estos verbos sigue la estructura verbo + objeto + “present participle”. En el caso de “catch”, el participio siempre hace referencia a una acción que genera molestia o enfado, a diferencia de lo que ocurre con “find”, que no conlleva carga emocional.

EXAMPLES
  • If I catch you stealing my apples again, there’ll be trouble!
  • Don’t let him catch you reading his letters.
  • I caught him going through my bag.
  • We found some money lying on the ground.
  • They found their mother sitting in the garden.
EL “PRESENT PARTICIPLE” PARA DOS ACCIONES SIMULTÁNEAS

Cuando dos acciones ocurren al mismo tiempo y son realizadas por el mismo sujeto (persona o cosa), podemos emplear un “present participle” para describir una de ellas. Cuando una de las acciones sucede muy poco después de otra realizada por el mismo sujeto, podemos expresar la primera mediante el “present participle”.

EJEMPLOS
  • Whistling to himself, he walked down the road. = He whistled to himself as he walked down the road.
  • They went laughing out into the snow. = They laughed as they went out into the snow.
  • Dropping the gun, she put her hands in the air. = She dropped the gun and put her hands in the air.
  • Putting on his coat, he left the house. = He put on his coat and left the house.
EL “PRESENT PARTICIPLE” PARA EXPLICAR MOTIVOS

El “present participle” puede utilizarse en lugar de una frase introducida por “as”, “since” o “because”. En este uso la frase de participio explica la causa o la razón de una acción.

EJEMPLOS
  • Feeling hungry, he went into the kitchen and opened the fridge.
  • Being poor, he didn’t spend much on clothes.
  • Knowing that his mother was coming, he cleaned the flat.
  • He whispered, thinking his brother was still asleep.

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre “would” y “used to”? (pretérito imperfecto ej: caminabamos)

Would. Entre los significados y usos “would” se encuentra uno que quizás no conozcas. “Would” se puede utilizar para hablar del “pasado”. Sí, como lo has leído. “Would” no sólo se utiliza para hacer el condicional, sino que también se puede usar para hablar del pasado.

¿Cuándo se usa con significado de pasado?

Se usa “would” para hablar en pasado cuando hablamos de acciones que realizábamos en el pasado de forma repetitiva. Equivale al “pretérito imperfecto” en español.

 Por ejemplo:

–Cuando yo era niño jugaba al fútbol con mis amigos en el colegio. When I was a boy I would play football with my friends at school. “would play” es jugaba.

– Ella venía a mi casa todos los miércoles para ver la televisión.She would come to my house every Wednesday to watch television. 

Recuerda: Se utiliza “would” para hablar de acciones que ocurrieron en el pasado de forma repetitiva.

 ¡Ojo! “Would” solo se utiliza con verbos de movimiento.

Cómo se diferencia “would” de “used to”

Would hace una función similar a la de “used to”, pero existe una gran diferencia.

“Would” SOLO se puede usar con verbos de movimiento, por ejemplo, play, sing, walk, come, go, etc.
“Used to”, en cambio, se puede usar con todo tipo de verbos.

Recuerda que “used to” se puede traducir por “Yo solía, tú solías hacer…..” Y también por “Antes yo hacía, yo comía, etc.” 

Ejemplos:

– I used to think that she was married. Antes yo creía que ella estaba casada. Nota: NO puedo decir “I would think that…..” porque “Think” no es un verbo de movimiento. Es, en cambio, un stative verb.

-They used to have a boat. Antes ellos tenían un barco. Nota: NO puedo decir ” They would have a boat”.

Recuerda: “would” en pasado SOLO se utiliza con verbos de movimiento y se traduce al español como el pretérito imperfecto: yo comía, él dormía, nosotros jugábamos, etc.

Y “used to”  también se puede  traducir como “pretérito imperfecto en español” o “como “solía hacer…”, se puede utilizar con verbos de movimiento y de estado (stative verbs) que son esos verbos que normalmente nunca se utilizan en tiempo continuos. 

 

  • Pretérito imperfecto (yo hacía): I did, I used to do, I would do, I was doing [which one(s) you can use depends on the context!]
  • Pretérito perfecto simple (yo hice): I did

Routine, habit

Present Simple

I play tenis (every I can)

He always lets you down.
You always look in on him when you come to bed.
I go to Tesco every day after work.
I rarely / sometimes / often / usually / always cook dinner at home. (The adverb of frequency comes before the main verb)
I am rarely / sometimes / often / usually / always on time. (The adverb of frequency comes after “be” verb)
———————————————-

Always + present continuous. (something anoying)

She is always coming to class late. –> Ella esta siempre viniendo a clase tarde
He is always/constantly talking. I wish he would shut up. –> Ek está siempre hablando. Ojalá el cerrara la boca
I don’t like them because they are always complaining. –> No me gustam ellos pq está siempre quejandose
Harry and Sally are always arguing! –> Harry y sally está siempre emfadados.
You’re always/constantly complaining about your mother-in-law! –> Estás siempre quejandote de tu suegra
I am always losing my glasses.
You’re always buying sweets.
He’s always forgetting things.
She’s always eating something.
It’s always raining in Scotland.
They’re always laughing at me.

Will + infinitive

I’ll usually buy croissants

Habits in the past

used to:

I used to play football when I was younger but I gave up when I left school. (Used to + verb: expresses an action that was a habit in the past but no longer is)
I didn’t use to eat vegetables but now I love them. (remember that the negative is spelled slightly differently: didn’t use to + verb)
Did you use to work in the city or did you always work in the countryside? (As is the question: Did you use to + verb)

“When I was younger we used to go to the countryside every summer. We’d visit a place called Brittas Bay in the Irish countryside. It was beautiful, it had a beach and we used to go there every day. We’d get up early and pack our bags and then we’d walk over to the beach. It was only five minutes away. My mom would pack some lunch and we’d play in the sea all day until we were tired and hungry and we’d eat sandwiches with extra sand in them. Sometimes, we’d stay there until the sun went down and it got cold and then we’d go home for a barbecue. Sometimes we wouldn’t go to the beach and we’d just play football in the field all day. They were some of the happiest days of my life.”

Nota: 

pretérito imperfecto (yo hacía): I did, I used to do, I would do, I was doing [which one(s) you can use depends on the context!]

Caminabamos — Preterito imperfecto –> we would walk / we’d walk

Conditionals: other expressions (unless, should, as long as)

Supposing

Supposing may be used (puede ser usado) with a conditional meaning. It can be used in first, second or third conditional sentences. Imagine a situation:

Supposing I don’t arrive till after midnight, will the guest-house still be open? (Imagine if I don’t arrive till after midnight …) –> Suponiendo que Yo no llegue antes de medianoche, la casa de invitados estará todavía abierta? (first conditional)

Supposing you lost your passport, you’d have to go to the embassy, wouldn’t you? –> Suponiendo que tu pierdas el pasaporte, tu tendrías que ir a la embajada, verdad? (Second contitional)

Supposing he hadn’t recognised us – he might never have spoken to us. –> Suponiendo que él nos hubiera reconocido, el nunca habría hablado de nosostros.

Unless (a menos que..)

We use the present simple in the unless-clause and shall, should, will, would, can, could, may or might in the main clause:

Unless I phone you, you can assume the train’s on time. (If I do not phone you /except if I phone you, you can assume the train is on time.)

We’ll have to cancel the show unless we sell more tickets at the last minute. (We’ll have to cancel the show if we do not sell more tickets/except if we sell more tickets at the last minute.)

As long as, so long as, providing, etc.

Sometimes we need to impose specific conditions or set limits on a situation. In these cases, conditional clauses can begin with phrases such as as long as, so long as, only if, on condition that, providing (that), provided (that).

As long as is more common in speaking; so long as and on condition that are more formal and more common in writing:

[to a group of children]

You can play in the living room as long as you don’t make a mess. (zero conditional) –> Tu puedes  jugar en el comedor a condición de que no me hagas un lio.

So long as a tiger stands still, it is invisible in the jungle. –> Siempre que un tigre se detenga, es imvisible en la jungla.

The bank lent the company 100,000 pounds on condition that they repaid the money within six months. –> el banco prestó a la compañia XX a condición de que ellos repusieran el dinero en 6 meses.

Providing (that) is more common in speaking; provided (that) is more formal and more common in written language:

[talking about rail travel in the UK]

You can get a senior citizen’s reduction providing you’ve got a railcard.

They may do whatever they like provided that it is within the law.