2018-06-26 Grammar: modal logical meanings

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: p. 71 exercise 2 - Decide which social function each sentence does.
1 permission
2 offer
3 invitation
4 invitation
5 suggestion
6 suggestion
7 obligation (“mustn’t” = there is obligation against doing it)
8 obligation (“don’t have to” = there is no obligation)
9 advice
10 advice
11 request
12 offer
13 suggestion
14 intention
15 promise
16 advice
17 offer
18 (denying) permission
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Logical Meanings of Modals
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general possibility: Passing the TOEFL can be difficult.
impossibility: You can’t be here already, you just left home.
future events: Tomorrow will be Wednesday.
predictions (future possibility): I might be there. It may rain on Thursday.
inferences and conclusions: This ability must be instinctive in some animals.
abilities: You can jump. I wasn’t able to send email this morning.
past habits: I used to play football when I was a child. I would always score the most points.
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p. 74-75 exercise 3 - With your partner, identify the meanings expressed in each sentence.
1 possibility
2 impossibility
3 ability
4 past habit
5 prediction
6 future time
7 prediction (about obligation)
8 logical inference
9 ability
10 impossibility
11 prediction
12 logical inference
13 future time
14 possibility/inference
15 past habit
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exercise 4 - With your partner, identify the social or logical meaning of each sentence.
1 request
2 future time
3 ability
4 prohibition (deny permission)
5 advice
6 advice
7 inference/prediction
8 inference
9 obligation
10 prediction
11 request/permission
12 permission (If “may not” and “can’t” have the same meaning in a sentence, it’s permission.)
13 inference
14 request
15 ability
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suggestion: here are some options you can choose from
advice: here is the best option you should choose
obligation: here is the only option, which you must choose
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Homework: figure this out:
	A man lives on the fortieth floor of a very tall building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby on the first floor. In the evening, if he’s alone in the elevator and it was a sunny day, he takes the elevator to the twentieth floor and has to walk the rest of the way. If it was raining, or if there’s another person in the elevator, he takes it to the fortieth floor.
Why?