modals again

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Would you please have a look at my answers to this "fill in the blanks" exercise?

A VERY EXPENSIVE PIECE OF FURNITURE. And 1. indeed it was! Mr Boggis saw it at once, and stopped dead in his tracks and gave a little shrill gasp of shock. Then he stood there for five, ten, fifteen seconds at 2. least, staring like an idiot, unable to believe, (not dare) 3. not daring to believe 4. what he saw before him. It (modal + be) 5. could not be true, not possibly! But the longer he stared, the 6. more (?) true it began (seem) 7. to seem. And who in the world (modal + make + possibly) 8. could possibly have made a mistake about a thing like that? Admittedly, it (paint) 9. had been / was painted (?) white, but it made not the slightest difference. Some idiot (do) 10. did / had done (?) that. The paint (modal + strip off + easily) 11. could easily be stripped off.
12. To / up to (?) this point, Boggis became aware of the three men, Rummins, Bert, and Claud, (watch) 12. watching him intently. They (see) 13. had seen him stop and gasp and stare, and they (modal + see) 14. must have seen his face turning red, or maybe it was white, but in any event it was enough (spoil) 15. spoiling the whole goddamn business if he (not do) 16. did not do something about it quick.
[…] He (modal + have) 17. had to have (?) time to compose himself thoroughly before he (say) 18. said (?) another word. Take it gently, Boggis. And 19. whatever you do, keep calm. These people (modal + be) 20. are ignorant, but they are not stupid. They are suspicious, wary and sly.
What he saw was a piece of furniture that any expert (give) 21. would give anything to acquire. To a layman, it (modal + not + appear) 22. might not appear particularly impressive but to Mr Boggis it was a dealer's dream.

Roald Dahl

I just want to say that this is not a homework.

Thank you for your help.
Best regards,
Hela

[Tdol]

6 = truer
9-= either, but 'had been' sounds better to me
10 = had done
12- At
15 to spoil
17 wouldn't have
18 may (well) be

[hela]

Dear teachers,

A/ Here is another "Fill in the blanks" exercise:

2nd text:

Miss Samantha Fox, the 20-year-old runaway student now reunited 1 with her family, said yesterday that she (modal + face) 2 couldn’t face telling (?) (is it possible to have the affirmative form here?) her parents that she (expel) 3 had been expelled from Swansea University.
“I was just scared that everybody (disappoint) 4 would be disappointed,” she said. “The longer it went 5 on (?) the harder it was. I really didn’t know what I (do) 6 was doing (?)”

Mis Fox was asked (leave) 7 to leave the university three months after failing (attend) 8 to attend lectures. But, 9 too ashamed to tell her family, she continued (live) 10 to live in her rooms as if 11 nothing had happened.

The stress of keeping up the pretence finally showed last week, 12 when (?) Miss Fox was supposed to return to Swansea after a short holiday 13 in the family home. 14 Then (?) she went to London where she started to look for work.

Her anxious parents telephoned the police after university friends rang (say) 15 to say Samantha hadn’t turned up. A nation-wide appeal was launched.
16 (Spend) Having spent a week around north London, Miss Fox contacted her brother on Monday night and asked 17 (take) to be taken home.

She (modal + not + remember + clearly) 18 couldn’t clearly remember how she spent the last three months 19 after receiving the expulsion note. “It’s all a bit vague. Believe it or not, I (do + still) 20 was still doing college work in my room, I hardly went 21 out at all.” She said she found the transition from home to university life very hard: “At school I was a model student.” She said she had not received 22 any counselling from the university to help her (cope) 23 cope with the burden of work and the stress of being 24 away / far (?) from home.

Her father was delighted (have) 25 to have his daughter home. “We love our daughter,” he said. “We would support and understand her 26 whatever happened.”


B/ Is there a rule about the position of objects with phrasal verbs?

ex: a) put it up / hang the coat up / ring them up / look it u
b) bring it down / write it down
c) Any other examples with other prepositions?

When do we insert the object between the verb and its preposition and when do we have to put the object after the verb phrase?

C/ Are the following sentences correct? If yes, what do they mean?

a) He decided that the house should be built.
b) He decided that the house be built.

Many thanks.
Best regards,
Hela

[queenmaabd]

VERY EXPENSIVE PIECE OF FURNITURE. And 1. indeed it was! Mr Boggis saw it at once, and stopped dead in his tracks and gave a little shrill gasp of shock. Then he stood there for five, ten, fifteen seconds at 2. least, staring like an idiot, unable to believe, (not dare) 3. not daring to believe 4. what he saw before him. It (modal + be) 5. could not be true, not possibly! But the longer he stared, the 6. more (?) true it began (seem) 7. to seem. And who in the world (modal + make + possibly) 8. could possibly have made a mistake about a thing like that? Admittedly, it (paint) 9. had been / was painted (?) white, but it made not the slightest difference. Some idiot (do) 10. did / had done (?) that. The paint (modal + strip off + easily) 11. could easily be stripped off.
12. To / up to (?) this point, Boggis became aware of the three men, Rummins, Bert, and Claud, (watch) 12. watching him intently. They (see) 13. had seen him stop and gasp and stare, and they (modal + see) 14. must have seen his face turning red, or maybe it was white, but in any event it was enough (spoil) 15. spoiling the whole goddamn business if he (not do) 16. did not do something about it quick.
[…] He (modal + have) 17. had to have (?) time to compose himself thoroughly before he (say) 18. said (?) another word. Take it gently, Boggis. And 19. whatever you do, keep calm. These people (modal + be) 20. are ignorant, but they are not stupid. They are suspicious, wary and sly.
What he saw was a piece of furniture that any expert (give) 21. would give anything to acquire. To a layman, it (modal + not + appear) 22. might not appear particularly impressive but to Mr Boggis it was a dealer's dream.

Roald Dahl

According to the original text:
1 correct
2 correct
3 correct
4 correct
5 correct
7 more true
8 could possilbly make
9 was painted
10 had done
11 correct
12 at this point
13 correct
14 correct
15 to spoil
16 correct
17 must have
18 correct
19 correct
20 may be
21 would have given
22 might not have appeared

I strongly recomend you read the whole story. As you know, it was written by Roald Dahl, and it is in his book
Kiss, Kiss, although you can also find it in The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl. The title of this short story is Parson's Pleasure.
He is a fabulous story teller, and I strongly recommend him for an interesting read to any of those who have an intermediate or advanced level.

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Could you please tell me if my answers are correct?

1) Sentence Transformation:

He cannot go skiing with them. He has not recovered from the operation.
They wished …

= They wished he would / could come skiing with them, but he hadn't recovered from the operation. (correct ?)

2) a) 1st text on Modals "Avery expensive piece of furniture":

18) He MUST HAVE time to compose himself thoroughly before he said another word.

Does “Must Have” express a necessity in the past here? Is it also called an “emphatic MUST”?

“Had to have”: isn’t “Had to” the past form of “Must”?


b) 2nd text on modals: Any answer please?


3) 3rd text:

When Harry Collins murdered his aunt, he was convinced that his crime (never + detect) 1 would never be detected. His plan (lay) 2 had been laid with great care and precision. He (not employ) 3 had been employed as an accountant for the past twenty years without acquiring a passion 4 of / about (?) details. He prided himself on being a methodical man. His bills were paid regularly, he (have) 5 had his hair (cut) 6 cut once a fortnight, his car (service) 7 was serviced every six months, everything in fact 8 that / which (?) in his dull and orderly life needed (do) 9 to be done, Harry saw to it that it was done. It was entirely in character 10 that he had decided to rid himself of his aunt. She had become a nuisance who (modal + remove) 11 had to be removed as quickly and decently as possible. Besides she was rich, and Harry was well aware that her fortune (leave) 12 had to be / ought to be / should be left (something else ?) to him. 'It's unfortunate,' he told himself, 'that she (modal + kill) 13 has to be / is to be / should be killed (something else ?) rather 14 than die naturally in her bed, but the important thing is to make it look as if it was done 15 while I was out.'
Indeed, Harry's crime (probably + never + discover) 16 would probably never have been discovered if it hadn't stopped raining just before he came home and if his aunt's window (not break) 17 had not been broken with a flower pot. Nor did he 18 ever suppose Inspector Harvey would guess that the ladder had been put outside the bedroom window after his aunt (murder) 19 was murdered. But then, as Harry himself said to the Inspector, the criminal always (get + catch) 20 gets caught in the end.

Thank you very much for your help and patience.
Best regards,
Hela

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by tdol

6 = truer
9-= either, but 'had been' sounds better to me
10 = had done
12- At
15 to spoil
17 wouldn't have
18 may (well) be

Um, was 18 supposed to be 20?

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Regarding text n° 1

Is it possible to use in :

17. He (modal + have) must have / had better have time to compose himself thoroughly before he said another word.

20. These people (modal + be) 20. may be / might be / can be / could be ignorant, but they are not stupid. They are suspicious, wary and sly.

22. : To a layman, it (modal + not + appear) may not / might not / would not appear particularly impressive but to Mr Boggis it was a dealer's dream.

Thank you for your help.
Hela

[Tdol]

17. He (modal + have) must have / had better have time to compose himself thoroughly before he said another word.

I'd use 'would have to have' here. This is the story about the antique, isn't it?

20. These people (modal + be) 20. may be / might be / can be / could be ignorant, but they are not stupid. They are suspicious, wary and sly.

I wouldn't use 'can' here, but the others are fine.

22. : To a layman, it (modal + not + appear) may not / might not / would not appear particularly impressive but to Mr Boggis it was a dealer's dream.

All are possible- the degree of certainty is all that changes- 'would' if certain, 'may' if there's a good chance....

[hela]

Dear teacher,

1) Can we use "MUST + verb" for a past action or do we need to use "HAD TO + verb"?

2) Is "HAVE TO" a modal verb?

3) What about the use of "MUST HAVE time" in my first text posted?
a) Is it a past tense?
b) Does MUST HAVE express a past necessity; is it an emphatic must; or something else?

c) And what is the difference with "WOULD HAVE TO HAVE time to compose himself thoroughly before he said a word"?

4) Could anyone have a look at my 2 other texts, please?

Thank you for your help.
Best regards,
Hela

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by hela

1) Can we use "MUST + verb" for a past action or do we need to use "HAD TO + verb"?

must have seen ==> have seen refers to the past.
must go => go refers to the non-past.

EX14. They must have seen his face turning red, or maybe it was white, but in any event it was enough to spoil the whole goddamn business if he did not do something about it quick.

Originally Posted by hela

2) Is HAD TO a modal verb?

Yes.

Originally Posted by hela

3) What about the use of "MUST HAVE time" in my first text posted?
a) Is it a past tense?
b) Does MUST HAVE express a past necessity; is it an emphatic must; or something else?

must have time ==> have refers to the non-past
must have seen time ==> seen refers to the past

Originally Posted by hela

c) And what is the difference with "WOULD HAVE TO HAVE time to compose himself thoroughly before he said a word"?

'would have to have' refers to the non-past, whereas, in the context below, 'had' refers to the past.

EX: 17. He had to have (i.e. he needed) time to compose himself thoroughly before...

EX: He would have to have time (i.e. he would need)...

All the best,