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The English modal auxiliary verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality, properties such as possibility and obligation. [a] They can most easily be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participles or plain forms [b]) and by their lack of the ending ‑(e)s for the third-person singular.
It must be hot outside. Sam must go to school. – shall: This shall not be viewed kindly. You shall not pass. – should: That should be surprising. You should stop that. – will: She will try to lie. – – would: Nothing would accomplish that. – – ought That ought to be correct. You ought to be kind.
must not mustn’t’ve: must not have must’ve: must have ’neath (informal) beneath needn’t: need not nal (informal) and all ne’er (informal) never no one's: no one has / no one is nothing's: nothing has / nothing is o’clock: of the clock o’er: over ol’ old ought’ve: ought have oughtn’t: ought not oughtn’t’ve: ought not ...
Must give us pause. There's the respect That makes Calamity of so long life: For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of time, The Oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, [F: poore] The pangs of despised Love, the law’s delay, [F: dispriz’d] The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
Thus would and should can be used with "future-in-the-past" meaning, to express what was expected to happen, or what in fact did happen, after some past time of reference. The use of should here (like that of shall as a plain future marker) is much less common and is generally confined to the first person. Examples:
An auxiliary verb (abbreviated aux) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a participle, which respectively provide the main semantic content of the clause. [1]
The English subjunctive is realized as a finite but tenseless clause.Subjunctive clauses use a bare or plain verb form, which lacks any inflection.For instance, a subjunctive clause would use the verb form "be" rather than "am/is/are" and "arrive" rather than "arrives", regardless of the person and number of the subject.
By yesterday morning they had already been working for twelve hours. Among the witnesses was John Smith, who had been staying at the hotel since July 10. This form is sometimes used for actions in the past that were interrupted by some event [12] (compare the use of the past progressive as given above). For example: