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Modul Guru Pembelajar Bahasa Inggris Kelompok Kompetensi Profesional J
Relation Across sentences
Within a sentence
to sum up in brief
to clarify
TIME PLACE then
afterwards previously
up till now first
secondly thirdly
next finally
at thisthat point whenonce
after before
where herethere
Source: http:sydney.edu.aulearningcentreclearer_writingmodule4logical_relationslogical_relations_intro
.html retrived 5 January 2016
DISCUSSION 2 : CORE MODAL VERBS IN MODALITY
Modality is about a speaker‘s or a writer‘s attitude towards the world. A speaker or writer can express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation,
necessity and ability by using modal words and expressions. Core modal verbs: can, could, may, might, will, shall, would, should, must
1. Can
We use ―can‖ to show:
a. Permission Example:
Can I take Daisy for a walk? Students can use calculators during the exam.
We use can‟t to forbid say what you must not do: You can‟t park there.
You can‟t just take the day off work. You have to have
permission in advance. b. Ability
We often use can to talk about ability to do something in the present or future:.
Modul Guru Pembelajar Bahasa Inggris Kelompok Kompetensi Profesional J
13 I can sing one song in Polish.
Can you sleep on your back? We can go swimming after school tomorrow, if you like.
We often use can with verbs of perception such as hear, see, smell, taste, and mental process verbs such as guess, imagine,
picture, understand and follow in the sense of ‗understand‘: I can hear you.
I can see her coming down the road now. Can you smell something burning?
I can guess why you‟re angry. We can‟t follow these instructions for installing this new
DVD player. We can‟t understand these instructions. c. General truth
We use can to talk about things which we think are usually, but not always, true:
Reducing cholesterol through diet can be difficult. It‘s not
always difficult for everyone, but in general it is difficult.
Fireworks can frighten pets. Swans can be very vicious.
We don‘t normally use could to talk about what we believe to be true in the present.
Compare: Exercise
can help
reduce stress.
I believe this is a general truth or fact. Exercise
could help reduce
stress. I see this only as a possibility.
Finding a hotel in August can be
difficult. I believe this is a general truth or fact
based on my experience or knowledge. Finding a hotel in August
could
be difficult. I see this only as a possibility.
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Modul Guru Pembelajar Bahasa Inggris Kelompok Kompetensi Profesional J
d. Possibility We use can to express possibility or to question possibilities, for
example: We can go to Rome in June because both of us have a
week off work. It is possible for us to go to Rome because we don‟t have to work in June.
Well, how can you be on a diet if you buy so much chocolate? I don‟t think it‟s possible that you are on a diet
because you still buy lots of chocolate.
e. Guessing and Predicting When we want to guess or predict something, we use
can‘t as the negative form of must. We use
can‘t have + -ed form as the negative form of must have + -
ed. Can‘t and can‘t have + -ed form express strong possibility.
Look at the following dialogue: A: Who owns this blue coat? It must be yours.
B: It can‟t be mine. It‟s too big. A uses must to guess that the
coat belongs to B. He sees this as a strong possibility. B uses can‘t to express strong negative possibility. The coat is
too big, so it isn‘t his. A: Roy must have made a lot of money.
B: He can‟t have done. He doesn‟t even own a house. A
makes a deduction that Roy has made a lot of money. B sees this as very unlikely and so expresses it as a negative
possibility. f. Request
We use can as a question form to make requests: Those cakes look so good. Can I try one?
Can I have your surname? Can you help me with this form?
