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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
"mustn't" with reference to the future
Dear teachers,
I wonder whether you can use "mustn't" in a sentence like this:
If you don't clean your room right now, you mustn't take part in our next excursion to Dover.
Does "mustn't have a future meaning? Or is only "won't be allowed" possible here?
Thank you in advance for looking at my question!
I wonder whether you can use "mustn't" in a sentence like this:
If you don't clean your room right now, you mustn't take part in our next excursion to Dover.
Does "mustn't have a future meaning? Or is only "won't be allowed" possible here?
Thank you in advance for looking at my question!
Top answer
Anonymous I wonder whether you can use "mustn't" in a sentence like this: Yes, but I don't think it has the meaning you want. If your children are sick, you mustn't send them to school. You must keep them at home until they have no fever.
- Anonymous I wonder whether you can use "mustn't" in a sentence like this: Yes, but I don't think it has the meaning you want.
- If your children are sick, you mustn't send them to school.
- You must keep them at home until they have no fever.
- It is a rule that the schools have to prevent contagious diseases from spreading.
- If you don't clean your room right now, you can't / won't take part in our next excursion to Dover.
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5 Answers
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AnonymousI wonder whether you can use "mustn't" in a sentence like this:Yes, but I don't think it has the meaning you want.
If your children are sick, you mustn't send them to school. You must keep them at home until they have no fever.
It is a rule that the schools have to prevent contagious diseases from spreading.
If you don't clean y
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Thank you very much, AlpheccaStars.
So - the idea is that for the "punishment" of someone who doesn't want to clean his room, I'd better use a substitute form of "mustn't", like for instance "....won't be allowed to" or "can't" as suggested above, since it is no rule a parent must follow.
Is my original sentence then a kind of zero conditional?
So - the idea is that for the "punishment" of someone who doesn't want to clean his room, I'd better use a substitute form of "mustn't", like for instance "....won't be allowed to" or "can't" as suggested above, since it is no rule a parent must follow.
Is my original sentence then a kind of zero conditional?
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It is a conditional sentence, but there is nothing unreal about it!
So it is like a zero-conditional, which links a truth statement to a condition.
If (statement), then X will happen.
These statements are common for a parent to say to their children.
So it is like a zero-conditional, which links a truth statement to a condition.
If (statement), then X will happen.
These statements are common for a parent to say to their children.
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AnonymousIf you don't clean your room right now, you mustn't take part in our next excursion to Dover.It's "may not", not "mustn't". Your suggestion of "won't be allowed" is also perfectly fine, and probably used more often than "may not".
If you don't clean your room right now, you [won't be allowed to / may not] take part in our next excursion
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