English Grammar: Modals, Subjunctive, and Future Tenses
Body Language and Expressions
Bite your fingernails / bow your head / cover your mouth / cross your fingers / fidget (estar inquieto) / fold your arms / frown / give a thumbs up / grimace / grin / nod your head / point / pout / purse your lips / raise your eyebrows / scowl / scratch your head / shake your head / shrug your shoulders / wink (guiño) / wave / yawn.
Emotions: Annoyance / Anxiety / Boredom / Confusion / Disapproval / Fear / Pain (dolor) / Shame (vergüenza)
Modals in the Past
May, Might, Could Have: Speculating About the Past
Should Have, Ought (Not) To Have
Talk about what the right or wrong way to behave in the past was.
Might Have, Could Have
Tell somebody what they should have done (¡!). Do not use ‘may have’ in this case.
Must Have, Can’t / Couldn’t Have
Logical deduction in the past.
Should Have, Was Supposed To
About things we expect to have happened.
Needn’t Have, Didn’t Need To
We use ‘needn’t have’ to say an action that took place was unnecessary. We use ‘didn’t need to’ to say an action was unnecessary, whether it took place or not.
Future Tenses
Future Continuous (Will/Won’t Be + Verb-ing)
Talk about an action that will be in progress at a specific point in the future. To make polite inquiries or ask somebody’s plans makes questions sound more polite and less direct.
Future Perfect Simple (Will/Won’t Have + Past Participle)
About an action or event completed by a specific point in the future.
Future Perfect Continuous (Will/Won’t Have Been + -ing)
Say how long an action or event will have been in progress at a specific point in the future. We can use the FPC and FPS to make predictions about the present.
Future Time Clauses
We use present tenses instead of ‘will’ or ‘going to’ in future time clauses after time conjunctions such as after, as soon as, by the time, immediately, in case, once, on condition that, the minute, the moment, until, when. We usually use the present perfect (not the future perfect) for actions that are complete in the future after future time clauses. We use the present continuous (not the future continuous) for actions in progress in the future after future time clauses.
Adverbs and Adverbial Phrases
Some adverbs have the same form as the adjective: early, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.
Other adjectives ending in -ly do not have an adverbial form: friendly, lively, cowardly, motherly, lovely. Instead, we put the adjective in an adverbial phrase. Some adverbs have two forms: one with -ly and one without: close/closely, deep/deeply, late/lately, pretty/prettily, etc. The meanings are sometimes very similar and sometimes unrelated.
The Subjunctive
In formal written language for urgent requests and demands, no ‘s’ is added in the 3rd person singular. The verb ‘be’ remains unchanged in the present tense and becomes ‘were’ in past tenses. Certain verbs (ask, advise, suggest, insist, demand, recommend, request) are followed by ‘that + subjunctive’ to indicate that something must be done.
0: present simple / present simple
1: present simple / future simple
2: past simple / would
3: past perfect / would + present perfect. Talk about imaginary situations in the past and describe how things might have been different.
e.g.: They wouldn’t have gotten lost if they’d had a map.
I Wish / If Only with Past Simple or Past Perfect
- We use I wish and if only with the past simple to express a regret about the present.
- We use I wish and if only with the past perfect to express a regret about the past.
- Advice, Obligation, and Necessity
Should + Ought To
Advice
Must + Have To
Express obligation or give strong advice
Musn’t
Something not allowed or give strong negative advice
Don’t Have To + Don’t Need To + Needn’t
Express lack of obligation/necessity
Be Supposed To
Talk about rules and things people believe/expect to happen or be true
Possibility, Probability, Certainty
May + Might + Could
Speculating about future events
Should
Something is likely to happen in our opinion
Must
Talking about things which we can deduce are definitely true
Can’t
Things we can deduce are impossible
Be Able To
Talk about possibility in the future
Can + Could
General truths and strong possibilities
Modals in the Past
May + Might + Could Have
Speculating about the past
Negative form: may not + might not (have), NOT couldn’t have
Should Have + Ought (Not) To Have
Talk about what the right or wrong way to behave in the past was
Might Have + Could Have
Tell somebody what they should have done (¡!). Do not use ‘may have’ in this case
Must Have + Can’t / Couldn’t Have
Logical deduction in the past
Should Have + Was Supposed To
About things we expect to have happened
Needn’t Have + Didn’t Need To
We use ‘needn’t have’ to say an action that took place was unnecessary
We use ‘didn’t need to’ to say an action was unnecessary, whether it took place or not