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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Modals

This is from englishpage.com:

"2. You use "not" to make modal verbs negative, even in Simple Present and Simple Past.

Examples:
He should not be late.
They might not come to the party."

My question is: How to classify the examples, do they refer to Simple Present or Simple Past?

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Top answer

Anonymous do they refer to Simple Present or Simple Past? They don't actually refer to anything. You can use a tense, but you can't really refer to it.

— CalifJim

  • Anonymous do they refer to Simple Present or Simple Past?
  • They don't actually refer to anything.
  • You can use a tense, but you can't really refer to it.
  • The explanation you got on that site seems oversimplified.
  • Modal constructions generally use 1) the modal with a bare infinitive for present or future time and 2) the modal, 'have', and the past participle for past time.
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6 Answers
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Anonymousdo they refer to Simple Present or Simple Past?
They don't actually refer to anything. You can use a tense, but you can't really refer to it.

The explanation you got on that site seems oversimplified. Modal constructions generally use 1) the modal with a bare infinitive for present or future time and 2) the modal, 'have', and
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CalifJimThe explanation you got on that site seems oversimplified
Thank you for the reply. I see

They exemplify "could" (for suggestion) with such a sentence:

"2. (Past) You could have spent your vacation in Hawaii."

Is the 'spending vacation in Hawaii' unfulfilled when expressed like that?
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AnonymousIs the 'spending vacation in Hawaii' unfulfilled when expressed like that?
Yes. The usual meaning of the "would have"s, "could have"s, and "should have"s is that the action did not actually take place.

As a suggestion, it's totally lame, however, because the time has already passed during which the vacation was to take place. I would not ev
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CalifJimAs a suggestion, it's totally lame
Yes, thank you for the comment about that site and its grammar explanations. I've just stopped to follow 'their' grammar.
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I think you mean stopped following their grammar. (discontinued)

(stopped to follow ~ stopped (what I was doing) and (then) followed their grammar)

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CalifJimI think you mean stopped following their grammar. (discontinued)(stopped to follow ~ stopped (what I was doing) and (then) followed their grammar)CJ
Oh, yes; shame on me. That's like with 'smoking': I've stopped to smoke vs I've stopped smoking. I've just said something contrary to what I did. Thanks for that.
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