If we used must instead of have to above it might imply that the speaker had authority to order these actions. But must may be used when the speaker approves of an obligation:

A driver who has knocked someone down must stop. (The speaker thinks it is the driver's duty to stop.)

Or when the speaker feels strongly:

Something must be done to stop these accidents.

DFirst person examples

In the first person the difference between must and have to is less n' important and very often either form is possible:

TYPIST: / must/will have to buy a dictionary.

PATIENT: / must/have to/will have to cut down on my smoking.

But have to is better for habits:

I have to take two of these pills a day

and must is better when the obligations are urgent or seem important to the speaker:

I must tell you about a dream I had last night. Before we do anything I must find my cheque book.

Some other examples (all persons)

You must come and see us some time. (This is quite a usual way of expressing a casual invitation.)

The children have to play in the street till their parents come home.

This sort of thing must stop! (The speaker either has authority or feels very strongly about it.)

You must write to your uncle and thank him for his nice present. If there are no taxis we'll have to walk.

If your father was a poor man you 'd have to work. We have to walk our dog twice a day.

NOTICE IN SHOP WINDOW: Closing down sale! Everything must go!

Affirmative obligations in the past: had to

Here the distinction between the speaker's authority and external authority cannot be expressed and there is only one form, had to:

I ran out of money and had to borrow from Tom. You had to Ray duty on that, I suppose?

There were no buses so he had to walk.

146 need not and must not in the present and future

need not can be used for present and future. It has the same form for all persons, (See 148.) need not expresses absence of obligation. The speaker gives permission for an action not to be performed or sometimes merely states that an action is not necessary:

EMPLOYER: You needn't make two copies. One will do. Give them this cheque. They needn't send me a receipt. You needn't change (your clothes). Just come as you are.

must not expresses a negative obligation imposed by the speaker or very emphatic advice:

You mustn't repeat this to anyone.

NOTICE IN SHOP: Staff must not smoke when serving customers. You mustn't leave your car unlocked. This place is full of thieves.

147 need not, must not and must in the present and future

DOCTOR: You needn't go on a diet; but you must eat sensibly and you mustn't overeat.

ZOO NOTICE: Visitors must not feed the animals. RAILWAY NOTICE: Passengers must not walk on the line. You mustn't drive fast. There is a speed limit here. You needn't drive fast. We've plenty of time.

You needn't strike a match. I can see well enough. You mustn't strike a match. This room is full of gas.

SCHOOL NOTICE: The lifts must not be used during Fire Drill.

You mustn't wear that dress again. You look terrible in yellow.

TEACHER: You needn't read the whole book but you must read the first four chapters. You must cut down that dead tree or it will fall on your house.

DOCTOR: You mustn't take more than two of these pills at once. Three might be fatal. DOCTOR (to patient's wife): If the pain has gone he needn't take any more of these.

148 need: forms

Aneed can be both an auxiliary and an ordinary verb. As an auxiliary it is a semi-modal, i.e. it has both modal and 'ordinary verb' forms. As a modal, its forms are need or need not/needn't for all persons in the present and future and in indirect speech. (See C below.)

Interrogative: need I? etc.

Negative interrogative: need I not/needn't I? etc. need conjugated as above takes the bare infinitive.

Bneed as an auxiliary is seldom used in the affirmative except when a negative or interrogative sentence is preceded by an expression which changes the negative or interrogative verb into an affirmative:

I needn't wear a coat or I don't suppose I need wear a coat. Need I tell Tom? or Do you think I need fell Tom?

It is however sometimes used in fairly formal English with hardly/scarcely or only:

I need hardly say how pleased we are to welcome Mr X. (I needn't say . . .)

You need only touch one of the pictures for all the alarm bells to start ringing. (If you even touch one of the pictures all the bells . . .)

Cneedn't' in direct speech can be reported unchanged:

'You needn't pay till the 31st' he says/said = He says/said I needn't pay till the 31st.

(See also 325 C.)

Dneed can also be conjugated as an ordinary verb with negative forms as shown in 149 below.

Corresponding have to forms are also shown. For interrogative forms, see 151.

need conjugated with will/shall, do/does/did etc. takes the full infinitive and is sometimes referred to as need to.

But see 148 C above for needn't in indirect speech.

shan't/won't need to = shan't/won't have to don't/doesn't need to = don't/doesn't have to

didn't need to = didn't have to (but didn't have to is the more usual form)

There are no exact need equivalents of haven't/hasn't got to and hadn't got to as can be seen from the table.

150 Difference between need not and the other forms

As already stated, need not expresses the speaker's authority or advice:

You needn't write me another cheque, just change the date and initial it. I'm in no hurry. He needn't send it by air. He can send it by sea.

You needn't do it by hand. I'll lend you my machine.

You needn't call me Mr Jones. We all use first names here.

COLLEGE LECTURER: You needn't type your essays but you must write legibly.

2 The other forms express external authority:

Tom doesn't have to wear uniform at school.

We don't have to type our essays but we have to write legibly.

When I'm an old age pensioner I won't have to pay any more bus fares.

Ann hasn't got to go/doesn't have to go to this lecture. Attendance is optional.

When I have a telephone of my own I won't have to waste time waiting outside these wretched telephone boxes.

Ann doesn't have to cook for herself. She works at a hotel and gets all her meals there.

3Sometimes, however, need not can be used for external authority also, as an alternative to won't/don't need to or won't/don't have to forms. This is particularly common in the first person:

I needn't type/I won't/don't have to type this report today. Mr Jones said that there was no hurry about it.

Note, however, that though it is possible to use need not for a future habitual action: I'm retiring. After Friday I need never go to the office again.

it is not possible to use it for a present habitual action:

I don't have to queue for my bus. I get on at the terminus. (need not could not be used

here.)

BPast

Here the distinction between the speaker's authority and external authority disappears, and we have a choice of three forms: didn't have to, didn't need to and hadn't got to. There is no difference in meaning, but hadn't got to is not normally used for habitual actions.

didn't have to is the most usual form:

I didn't have to wait long. He was only a few minutes late.

When he was at university he didn't have to/need to pay anything for his keep, for he stayed with his uncle.

151 must, have to and need in the interrogative

Both need? and must? imply that the person addressed is the authority concerned. need? also implies that the speaker is hoping for a negative answer: Must I go, mother? and Need I go, mother? mean the same, but in the second question the speaker is hoping that his mother will say No. The other interrogative form of need, do I need? etc., can be used similarly. Note possible answers:

Shall I have to go? ~ Yes, you will/No, you won't. Have I got to go? ~ Yes, you have/No, you haven't. Does he have to go? ~ Yes, he does/No, he doesn't. Need I go? ~ Yes, you must/No, you needn't.

Must I go? ~ Yes, you must/No, you needn't.

152 needn't + perfect infinitive

This structure is used to express an unnecessary action which was nevertheless performed:

I needn't have written to him because he phoned me shortly afterwards. (But I had written, thus wasting my time.)

You needn't have brought your umbrella for we are going by car. (You brought your umbrella unnecessarily.)

He needn't have left home at 6.00; the train doesn't start till 7.30. (So he will have an hour to wait.)

153 needn't have (done) compared with didn't have/ need (to do)

needn't have done: no obligation but action performed (unnecessarily), i.e. time wasted:

You needn't have watered the flowers, for it is going to rain. (You wasted your time.) You needn't have written such a long essay. The teacher only asked for 300 words, and you have written 600.

He needn't have bought such a large house. His wife would have been quite happy in a cottage. (waste of money)

You needn't have carried all these parcels yourself. The shop would have delivered them if you had asked them.

didn't have/need to do: no obligation, and normally no action:

I didn't have to translate it for him for he understands Dutch.

I didn't have to cut the grass myself. My brother did it. (no obligation and no action) Some people do use didn't have to/didn't need to for actions which were performed. The have or need is then usually stressed: You didn't have to give him my name would then mean “It wasn't necessary to give him my name, but you gave it to him”. But the student is

advised to use needn't have + past participle when an unnecessary action was performed:

You needn't have given him my name.

154 needn't, could and should + perfect infinitive

Aneedn't + perfect infinitive is often combined with could + perfect infinitive. The use of this combination is best shown by examples:

I wanted a copy of the letter, so I typed it twice. ~ You needn't have typed it twice. You

could have used a carbon.

I walked up six/lights of stairs. ~ You needn't have walked up; you could haw taken the lift. She stood in a queue to get an Underground ticket. ~ But she needn't have stood in a queue. She could have got a ticket from the machine.

Bneedn't have and should have compared

should or ought to could be used instead of need or could in all the examples in A above:

She shouldn't have stood in a queue. She should have got tickets from the machine.

But there is a difference in meaning:

She shouldn't have stood in a queue. (It was wrong or foolish of her to stand in a queue.)

She needn't have stood in a queue. (It was not necessary to do this, but she did it.) shouldn't have (done) implies criticism.

needn't have (done) does not imply criticism.

15 must, have, will and should for deduction and assumption

156 must used for deduction

AForms Present

must + present infinitive: He must live here, or must + continuous infinitive: He must be living here. Past

must + perfect infinitive: He must have lived here, or

must + continuous perfect infinitive: He must have been living here.

Note the difference between the past forms of must used for deduction and the past equivalent of must used for obligation: had to.

must is not used for negative deduction (see 159) and is not normally used in the interrogative except when querying a deduction with must:

There's a lot of wise from upstairs. It must be Tom. ~ Why must it be Tom? Other people use that flat.

Examples

He has a house in London and another in Paris, so he must be rich. I've had no sleep for 48 hours. - You must be exhausted.

He develops his own films. That must save him a lot of money.

I keep meeting him on the bus. He must live/must be living near by.

The police are stopping all cars. They must be looking for the escaped prisoner. What explosion? I didn't hear any. ~ You must have heard it! The whole town heard it! He must have taken sleeping pills last night. He didn't wake up till lunch time.

I waited under the clock! - So did I, but I didn't see you! We must have been waiting under different clocks.

It was a head-on collision, but the drivers weren't hurt. ~ They must have been wearing their seat belts.

157must (deduction) compared to may/might

The difference is best seen by examples:

(a)Imagine that we have three keys on a ring and we know that one of these keys opens the cellar door. We might begin by picking one key and saying:

This may/might be the key. (Perhaps this is the key.)

But after trying two keys unsuccessfully, we wilt pick up the third key and say This must be the key. No other choice remains.

(b)I wonder why Tom hasn't answered my letter. ~ He may/might be ill. (Perhaps he is ill. But

there are other possibilities also: he may be away or too busy to answer.)

But imagine that Bill never has any visitors. If an ambulance stops at his door the neighbours will say Bill must be ill. This is the only possible explanation of the arrival of the ambulance.

(c) Similarly, when considering a past action:

He may have come by train. (Perhaps he came by train. But there are other possibilities: he might have come by taxi or bus.)

But He must have come by taxi implies that he had no choice. There was no other way of making this journey.

158have/had used for deduction

This is an American usage which is sometimes heard in Britain. have/had here is chiefly used with to be:

There's a tall grey bird fishing in the river. ~ It has to be/must be a heron. had + to be can express the speaker's feeling of certainty in the past:

There was a knock on the door. It had to be Tom. (She was sure it was Tom.) had + to be can also be an alternative to must + perfect infinitive:

I wonder who took the money. ~ It had to be Tom/It must have been Tom. He's the only one who was there.

But, to avoid confusion, the student is advised to stick to the must forms,

159 can't and couldn't used for negative deduction

ANegative deductions about a present event can be expressed by can't/couldn't with the present infinitive of the verb be or with the continuous infinitive of any verb:

CHILD: Can I have some sweets? I'm hungry.

MOTHER: You can't/couldn't be hungry. You've just had dinner.

ANN (looking through binoculars): An aeroplane is pulling up people from the boat! TOM: I can't/couldn't be an aeroplane. It must be a helicopter.

He says he's still reading 'The Turn of the Screw'. ~ He can't/couldn't still be reading it. I lent it to him ages ago and it's quite a short book.

BNegative deductions about a past event are expressed by can't/couldn't + the perfect infinitive or continuous perfect infinitive of any verb:

A man answered the phone. I suppose it was her husband. ~ If can't/couldn't have

been her husband. He's been dead for ages.

I took a Circle Line train to St Paul's. ~ You can't/couldn't have taken the Circle Line. It doesn't go through St Paul's. You must have been on the Central Line.

couldn't must be used when the deduction is made in the past or introduced by a verb in the past tense:

She said I couldn't have come on the Circle Line. He said it couldn't be an aeroplane.

Otherwise either can't or couldn't can be used.

160 will and should for assumption

Awill used for assumptions about present or past actions

will here can be used with the present infinitive (for nondeliberate actions only) or with the continuous or perfect infinitive:

Ring his home number. He'll be at home now. (I'm sure he's at home.)

He'll be expecting a call from you. (I'm sure he's expecting a call.) He'll have finished his supper. (I'm sure he has finished his supper.)

It's no use asking Tom: he won't know. (I'm sure he doesn't.) Will Bill be at the club now, do you think? (Do you think he is?)

Bshould used for assumptions about present or past actions

should here is used mainly with the present infinitive (for non-deliberate actions only) in the affirmative or negative. It is sometimes also possible with the continuous and perfect infinitives:

The plane should be landing now. (I expect it is landing.)

The letter should have arrived by now. (I expect it has arrived.) Assumptions with should are less confident than assumptions with win:

Tom should know the address. (I expect Tom knows it.) But Tom'll know the address. (I'm sure Tom knows it.)

He should have finished by now. (I expect he has finished.) But He'll have finished by now. (I'm sure he has finished.)

should is not used for assumptions which displease the speaker:

Let's not go shopping now. The shops will be very crowded. (should would not be used.)

But for the opposite (agreeable) assumption, either word could be used:

Let's go shopping now. The shops wilt be/should be fairly empty or

The shops won't be/shouldn't be too crowded.

will and should can also express assumptions about the future:

He should/will have plenty of time to get to the station. They shouldn't/won't have any difficulty in finding the house.

will + present infinitive used for assumptions about the future is not restricted to nondeliberate actions. (See also 209.)

ought to can be used in the same way as should in B and C above:

The plane ought to be/should be taking of fin a minute.

But should is the more usual form.

16 The auxiliaries dare and used

161 dare

AIn the affirmative dare is conjugated like an ordinary verb, i.e.

dare/dares in the present, dared in the past. But in the negative and interrogative it can be conjugated either like an ordinary verb or like an auxiliary, i.e. it is a semi-modal.

The ordinary verb construction is more commonly used.

BInfinitives after dare

Negatives and interrogative forms with do/did are in theory followed by the infinitive with to, but in practice the to is often omitted:

He doesn't dare (to) say anything.

Did he dare (to) criticize my arrangements?

dare I/he/you? etc. and dare not forms take the infinitive without to;

Dare we interrupt? They dared not move.

When dare is preceded by nobody, anybody etc. the to is optional:

Nobody dared (to) speak.

Cdare is not much used in the affirmative except in the expression I daresay. I daresay (or I

dare say) has two idiomatic meanings: 1 'I suppose':

I daresay there'll be a restaurant car on the train.

2 I accept what you say (but it doesn't make any difference)':

ENGLISH TOURIST: But I drive on the left in England!

SWISS POLICEMAN: I daresay you do, but we drive on the right here. TRAVELLER: But the watch was given to me; I didn't buy it.

CUSTOMS OFFICER: I daresay you, didn't, but you'll have to pay duty on it all the same. daresay is used in this way with the first person singular only.

D how dare(d) you? how dare(d) he/they? can express indignation:

How dare you open my letters? (I am angry with you for opening them.) How dared he complain? (I am indignant because he complained.)

Edare is also an ordinary transitive verb meaning 'challenge' (but only to deeds requiring courage). It is followed by object + full infinitive:

MOTHER: Why did you throw that stone through the window? SON: Another boy dared me (to throw it).

162 Used

AForm

used is the past tense of a defective verb which has no present tense. Affirmative: used for all persons

Negative: used not/usedn't for all persons Interrogative: used you/he/they? etc.

Negative interrogative: used you not/usedn't you? etc. Negative and interrogative can also be formed with did: didn't use to did you use to? didn't you use to?

This is a more informal form, common in conversation.

used is followed by the full infinitive, and to remind students of this it is often referred to as used to (just as have used for obligation is referred to as have to).

BUse

used is used:

To express a discontinued habit or a past situation which contrasts with the present:

I used to smoke cigarettes; now I smoke a pipe. He used to drink beer; now he drinks wine.

She usedn't to like Tom but she quite likes him now or She used to dislike Tom but she quite likes him now.

used is not normally stressed, but it can be stressed if the speaker wishes to emphasise the contrast between past and present.

To express a past routine or pattern. Here we are not making a contrast between past and present: we are merely describing someone's routine during a certain period. Very often there is a succession of actions, used to here is replaceable by would (but would cannot replace used to for a discontinued habit etc. as in 1 above). used here is always unstressed.

Tom and Ann were a young married couple. Every morning Tom used to kiss Ann and set off/or work. Ann used to stand at the window and wave goodbye. In the evening she used to welcome him home and ask him to tell her about his day.

If we use would we have:

Every morning Tom would kiss Ann and set off/or work. Ann would stand at the window and wave goodbye etc.

Remember that used has no present form. So for present habits or routines we must use the simple present tense.

163used as an adjective: to be/become/get used to

used can also be an adjective meaning 'accustomed'. It is then preceded by be, become or get in any tense and followed by the preposition to + noun/pronoun or gerund:

I am used to noise.

I am used to working in a noisy room.

You will soon get used to the electric typewriters.

You will soon get used to typing on electric typewriters. They soon got used to the traffic regulations.

They soon got used to driving on the left.

I am used to ... etc. is a psychological statement. I am used to working in a noisy room means that I have worked in a noisy room, so the noise doesn't bother me: I don't mind it.

You'll soon get used to typing on electric typewriters means that after you have used them for a while you will find them quite easy to use. Very often I'm used to it has the meaning 'I don't mind it/It doesn't give me any trouble', as in the above examples. But it can work the other way. Imagine our canteen serves only tea with its meals. A Frenchman, newly arrived from France, might say:

I'm used to wine with my meals, so I find these lunches rather unsatisfying.

Do not confuse subject + be/become/get + used to with subject + used to (see 162}.

In the first, used is an adjective and to is a preposition. In the second, used is a verb and to is part of the following infinitive. Do not confuse these forms with the regular verb to use /ju:z/ meaning 'employ'.

17 The present tenses

There are two present tenses in English:

The present continuous: I am working.

The simple present: I work.

The present continuous

164Form

The present continuous tense is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb be + the present participle:

Negative interrogative: am I not working? are you not working? is he not working? etc.

Contractions: the verb be can be contracted as shown in 102 B, so the present continuous of any verb can be contracted:

Note the irregular contraction aren't I? for am I not?

Interrogative contractions: am, is, are may be contracted as shown |'in 104 B:

Why's he working? Where're you working?

but