2020-03-03 Grammar: meanings of modals, inferences

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - Notes from all classes
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Homework (to start in class): identify the uses/functions for the sentences on p. 71.
example: 1 - permission
2 offer
3 invitation
4 invitation
5 suggestion
6 suggestion
7 obligation
8 (no) obligation
9 advice
10 advice
11 request
12 offer
13 suggestion
14 promise/intention
15 promise
16 advice
17 offer
18 permission
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(logical) meanings of modal expressions
general possibility: Boston can be pretty cold in the winter.
general impossibility: It can’t snow in Boston in August.
future events: The next World Cup is going to be in Dubai.
predictions (less certain): It might rain tomorrow. It could snow on Saturday.
inferences and speculation: Barrow, Alaska, must get very cold in the winter.
abilities: I can play the piano but I can’t play the guitar. I could ride a bike when I was 6.
habitual past: I would go to the library every day after school. I used to live in Michigan.
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p. 74-75 exercise 3 - Decide what meaning is expressed in each sentence
1 general possibility
2 impossibility
3 ability
4 habitual past
5 prediction
6 future time
7 prediction
8 logical inference
9 ability
10 impossibility
11 prediction
12 logical inference
13 future event
14 inference
15 habitual past
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exercise 4 - Now decide between social and logical meanings for each modal.
1 request
2 future time
3 ability
4 prohibition / no permission / negative obligation
5 advice
6 advice
7 prediction
8 logical inference
9 obligation
10 prediction
11 request
12 no permission
13 inference
14 request
15 ability
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A man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator -- or if it was raining that day -- he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment.
- Speculate about why he does this.

A man and his wife raced through the streets. They stopped, and the husband got out of the car. When he came back, his wife was dead, and there was a stranger in the car.
- What might have happened?

A man is lying awake in bed. He makes a phone call, says nothing, and goes to sleep.
- Why? What happened?