Requests, offers, permission and invitations

requests	asking for things	asking for and giving permission	offering to do things	offering and inviting
Can you wait a moment, please? Could you wait a moment, please? Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the station? I wonder if you could help me. Do you think you could lend me some money until next week?   We also use ‘will’ and ‘would’ to ask people to do things (but ‘can’ / ‘could’ are more usual): Liz, will you do me a favour? Would you please be quiet? I’m trying to concentrate.	Can I have these postcards, please?   Could I have the salt, please?   May I have these postcards, please?	Can I speak to Tom, please? Could I use your phone? Do you think I could borrow your bike? May I come in?   To give permission, we use ‘can’ or ‘may’. You can use the phone. You may use the phone. ‘May’ is formal and less usual than ‘can’ or ‘could’.	‘Can I get you a cup of coffee?’ – ‘Yes, that would be very nice’.   ‘Can I help you?’ – ‘No, it’s all right. I can manage’.   You can also use I’ll ... to offer to do things: You look tired. I’ll get you a cup of coffee.	‘Would you like a cup of coffee?’ – ‘Yes, please’.   ‘Would you like to come to dinner tomorrow evening?’ ‘Yes, I’d love to’.   I’d like... is a polite way of saying what you want: (at a tourist information office) I’d like some information about hotels, please. (in a shop) I’d like to try on this jacket, please.

 

Shall

In present-day English ‘shall’ is not a purely modal verb. It always combines its moral meaning of obligation with the function of an auxiliary verb in the future tense. As a modal verb ‘shall’ is not translated into Russian, usually its meaning is rendered by emphatic intonation.

‘Shall’ combined with the simple infinitive expresses:

1) promise, oath, or strong intention. In this meaning shall is used with the 2nd or 3rd person with a weak stress.

It shall be done as you wish. – Будет сделано, как пожелаешь.

He shall get this money. – Он получит-таки эти деньги.

2. threat or warning. In this meaning ‘shall’ is found only in the 2nd and 3rd person: That day shall come. She shall pay for it, she shall.

Notice that it is not ‘shall’ itself that denotes promise, threat or warning, but the sentence as a whole.

3. a suggestion or offer. It is used in questions (and offers) in the 1st person. Such sentences are translated into Russian by the infinitive.

“Shall I get you a chair?” – “Yes, please.” Принести тебе стул?

 

Will

The verb ‘will’ has the following forms: ‘will’ for the present time contexts and ‘would’ for the past time contexts. The latter is used in two ways:

a) in past time contexts to express an actual fact;

b) in present time contexts to express unreality or as a milder and politer form of ‘will’.

‘Will’ combined with the simple infinitive expresses:

1) volition, i.e. willingness, readiness, consent, intention and determination. This meaning is found in affirmative and negative sentences. It is often rendered into Russian by ‘непременно’, ‘обязательно’, ‘охотно’. ‘Would’ in this meaning shows reference to the past.

I will write as soon as I can. Я непременно напишу, как только смогу.

This meaning is often found in conditional sentences: If you will help me we can finish by six.

When used in the negative it denotes a refusal to do something: I won’t accept your offer. (I refuse to…)

2) a polite request or an offer. This meaning occurs only in questions. The form ‘would’ renders a greater degree of politeness.

Will you pass me the salt? Would you please lend me your pencil?

It is still politer to use the combinations: ‘Would you mind + - ing form’, ‘Would you be so kind as to …’: Would you be so kind as to lend me your book?

3) a command (in military contexts it is a strict command): Officers will report for duty at 06.00. Офицерам выйти на дежурство в 06.00.

An impatient command, expressing irritation can begin with ‘will you’.

Will you be quiet! Да замолчишь ли ты, наконец?

4) insistence, resistence. ‘Will’ and ‘would’ are stressed in this sense.

He `will try to mend it himself. (he insists on mending it himself).

With reference to inanimate objects ‘will’ and ‘would’ show that a thing fails to perform its function. It occurs in negative sentences and corresponds to the Russian ‘никак не’.

The door will not open. Дверь никак не открывается.

The orange will not peel. Апельсин никак не чистится.

5) habitual or recurrent actions: She will (would) sit for hours under the old oak tree looking at the beautiful country around her.

6) inevitability, characteristic behaviour, quality, or something naturally expected.

What will be will be. Чему быть, того не миновать.

Accidents will happen. Несчастные случаи неизбежны.

Boys will be boys. Мальчишки всегда остаются мальчишками.

Truth will out. Истины не утаишь.

7) supposition. ‘Will’ may be used in this meaning to express supposition with reference to the present or to the future in combination with the simple infinitive, or to the past in combination with the perfect infinitive. This meaning is found with the second and third persons.

This will be the school, I believe. Это, по-видимому, и есть школа.

It should be noted that the use of ‘will’ in this meaning is not common.

8) disapproval of something expected. In this meaning only ‘would’ is used. It is used sarcastically, mainly in responses, to express that something was to be expected. It corresponds to the Russian ‘этого следовало ожидать’, ‘на него похоже’.

‘I know she attended the place’. – ‘Oh, yes, she would’. А как же!

‘He refused to interfere’. – ‘He would’. Это на него похоже.

9) ‘will / would’ combined with different forms of the infinitive can express prediction, a certainty about the present or the future (in a similar way as must): This will be just what she wants. This will be our train.

10) Notice the set phrases with ‘will’ and ‘would’:

a) ‘will not / won’t have + an object + an infinitive without to’ means ‘I will see to it that it doesn’t happen’.

I will not (won’t) have you speak to me like that. Я не допущу, чтобы вы со мной так разговаривали.

b) ‘would rather (‘d rather) / would sooner (‘d sooner) + an infinitive without to’ mean ‘to prefer’. I’d rather do it myself.

c) ‘would … mind’ in interrogative and negative sentences means ‘to object’.

Would you mind my staying here for a while? Вы не против, если …

‘Would … mind’ in interrogative sentences may also express a polite request.

Would you mind getting me a cup of tea? Вы не дадите мне чашечку чая?

d) You would, would you? – Ах, ты так!

 

Will, would and used to

We can use ‘will’ (for the present) and ‘would’ (for the past) to talk about characteristic behaviour, habits or things that are or were always true: Every day Dan will come home from work and turn on the TV. At school she would sit quietly and pay attention. Cold winter will kill some plants.

We don’t use ‘will’ or ‘would’ in this way to talk about a particular occasion. Compare: Each time I gave him a problem he would solve it for me. Last night I gave him a problem and he solved it for me.

In speech, we can use ‘will’ or ‘would’ to criticize people’s characteristic behaviour or habits. It often suggests that criticism has been made before but ignored: She won’t do the washing up when I ask her. He would talk about people behind their backs.

We can also criticize a person directly or express disapproval of something they have done or do regularly using ‘will’: ‘I feel sick’. – ‘If you will eat so much, I’m not surprised’. (indicating disapproval)

We can use ‘will’ to draw conclusions or state assumptions about things that are the case now: Jack will be at home by now. Let’s go and see him. You will know that John and Sandra are engaged (= I believe you already know).

When we talk about repeated events in the past that don’t happen now we can use either ‘would’ or ‘used to + infinitive’. However, we can use ‘would’ only if the time reference is clear (to avoid confusion with other uses of ‘would’). Compare: We used to play in the garden (time reference not given). Whenever we went to my uncle’s house, we would / used to play in the garden.

We can use ‘used to’ but not ‘would’ when we talk about past states that have changed: The factory used to be over there.

We don’t use either ‘used to’ or ‘would’ when we say exactly how many times in total something happened, how long something took, or that a single event happened at a given past time: We visited Switzerland four times during the 1970s. She went to Jamaica last month.

To talk about an unreal past situation (an imaginary situation or a situation that might have happened in the past, but didn’t) – we use ‘would have + past participle’: I would have been happy to see him, but I didn’t have time.

When we want to indicate that we think a past situation actually happened, we prefer ‘will have + past participle’: As you will have noticed, he’s got new glasses.

Note! ‘Used to’ is followed by an infinitive. Notice the spelling in questions and negatives: It used to take me over an hour to get to work. Supermarkets didn’t use to be open on Sundays in Britain. Did you use to get free milk at school?

Don’t confuse ‘used to + infinitive’ with ‘be / get used to (+ verb -ing)’ which means ‘be / become accustomed to’: I used to live alone. (= I lived alone at a time in the past.) He wasn’t used to living on his own. (= He wasn’t accustomed to it.) She’s getting used to the new technology. (= She is becoming accustomed to it.)

 

Dare

We use ‘dare’ as a modal (that is, without ‘to’ after it) mainly in the negative to express lack of courage: I daren’t tell him the truth. I daren’t ask for more money.

In the affirmative, we use ‘dare’ as a modal:

− in questions: Dare you do it?

− with ‘negative adverbs’ (e.g. hardly): I hardly dare tell him what happened.

We also form questions with do / does / did: Do you dare tell him? I don’t dare tell him.

We can use ‘dare to’ as a notional verb: Do you dare to tell him? I don’t dare to tell him.

And note: I didn’t like the meal ...,

but I daren’t say so / daren’t have said so / didn’t dare (to) say so / dared not say so

We use ‘dare’ in four ways to express:

− courage: Very few climbers have dared (to) attempt Mount Everest without oxygen. Dare (to) is in the affirmative here, and this use is relatively rare.

− lack of courage: I don’t dare (to) tell the children that our holiday has been cancelled. This use of ‘dare (to)’, in the negative, is the most common.

− challenge: I dare you to jump off that wall. We use ‘dare’ only as a notional verb with ‘to’ for challenging. We use it in the affirmative and negative like any other verb. ‘Challenging’ is common in the language of children.

− outrage: How dare you read my private diary! We use ‘dare’ only as a modal without ‘to’ when expressing outrage.

 

Modal verbs in reporting

When there is a modal verb in the original statement, suggestion, etc., it sometimes changes when we report what was said or thought. The changes are summarized here:

 

modal verb in original	modal verb in report
could, would, should, might, needn’t, ought to, used to, could have, should have, etc.	could, would, should, might, needn’t, ought to, used to, (i.e. no change) could have, should have, etc.
will, can, may	would, could, might will, can, may (existing or future situations and present tense verb in reporting clause) will or would, can or could, may or might (existing or future situations and past tense verb in reporting clause)
shall	would, should (offers, suggestions, etc.)
must (= necessity) must (= conclude) mustn’t	must or had to must mustn’t

 

We sometimes use a modal verb in a report when there is no modal verb in the original: ‘You’re not allowed to smoke here’. – She told me that I mustn’t smoke there.

The verbs ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘should’, ‘might’, ‘needn’t’, ‘ought to’, ‘used to’, and ‘could have’, ‘should have’, etc. don’t change in the report: ‘I could meet you at the airport’. He said that he could meet us at the airport.

‘Will’ usually changes to ‘would’, ‘can’ to ‘could’, and ‘may’ to ‘might’. However, if the situation we are reporting still exists or is still in the future and the verb in the reporting clause has a present tense, we use ‘will’, ‘can’, and ‘may’ in the reported clause. Compare:

‘I’ll be in Paris at Christmas’. She tells me she’ll be in Paris at Christmas.

‘Careful! You’ll fall through the ice!’ I warned him he would fall through the ice.

If the situation we are reporting still exists or is still in the future and the verb in the reporting clause has a past tense, then we can use either ‘would’ or ‘will’, ‘can’ or ‘could’, or ‘may’ or ‘might’ in the reported clause: ‘The problem can be solved’. They said the problem can / could be solved.

When ‘shall’ is used in the original to talk about the future, we use ‘would’ in the report: ‘I shall (I’ll) call you on Monday’. She told me she would call me on Monday.

However, when ‘shall’ is used in offers, requests for advice and confirmation, etc. then we can use ‘should’ in the report, but not ‘shall’ or ‘would’: ‘Where shall I put this box?’ He asked where he should put the box.

When ‘must’ is used in the original to say that it is necessary to do something, we can usually use either ‘must’ or ‘had to’ in the report, although ‘had to’ is more natural in speech: ‘You must be home by 9 o’clock’. She said I must / had to be home by 9 o’clock.

However, when ‘must’ is used in the original to conclude that something (has) happened or that something is true, then we use ‘must’, not ‘had to’, in the report: ‘I keep forgetting things. I must be getting old’. Neil said he must be getting old.

If ‘mustn’t’ is used in the original, we can use ‘mustn’t’ in the report but not ‘didn’t have to’: ‘You mustn’t tell my brother’. He warned me that I mustn’t tell his brother.

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