23. Ways of expressing doubt, moral obligation, physical and mental ability

23. Ways of expressing doubt, moral obligation, physical and mental ability

FUNCTION	VERB	INFINITIVE	USAGE	EXAMPLES
doubt	should (emotion)	WHEN	CASES
Special emphatic constructions	Rhetorical questions beginning with WHY	Why should I put up with such behaviour?
Object clauses beginning with WHY	I don’t understand why you should be angry.
Attributive clauses beginning with WHY after the noun REASON, IDEA, THOUGHT	I have no idea why he should be angry.
Constructions of the following type	The door opened and who should enter the room but Ben.
Set phrase	How should I know?
Subordinate clauses, where SHOULD + infinitive is interchangeable with the predicate	Object clauses after expressions of regret, surprise, pleasure, displeasure	I’m surprised you should be angry with her.
Subject clauses after IT as a formal subject	It’s impossible that he should be still sleeping.
Constructions of the following type	That it should come to this! To think that it should have occurred!
may
might
can (?)	simple	reference is made to the present	Can we trust her?
continuous	=, dynamic verbs	Can he be joking?
perfect	reference is made to the past	Can he have believed her?
perfect continuous	=, dynamic verbs	Can he have been joking?
moral obligation	ought to (+ / -- /?)	simple	reference to the future	You ought to visit granny.
simple / continuous	reference to the present (stative / durative verbs)	You ought to be studying hard.
must	simple	from the speaker’s point of view, in certain situations	I must do it whatever it takes.
physical and mental ability	can	simple	reference is made to the present and future	I can play chess. We can go for a walk in the evening.
could	simple	reference is made to the past	I could spend more time with my friends before.
simple	to express unreality with reference to the present and future	She has very nice pronunciation. She could help you to improve your phonetics.
simple	reference is made to the past, and we don’t know whether the action was fulfilled	She could help him.
perfect	reference is made to the past, and the action wasn’t realized	She could have called Jim to inform him about the cancellation of the meeting.
be able to	simple	time reference is not clear from the context or we need to stress that the action refers to the future	He’ll be able to phone us from home. He’ll be able to buy the car he wants just in a few months.
simple	reference is made to the past, and we know the action was realized	Carol was able to suggest her own way out of this situation.

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