Teacher Discussion Forums

The verb cause predominantly has a negative semantic prosody, i.e. it is normally found paired with, or collocated with, nouns that have a negative connotation. Would you say that such an observation is important to language learning, in particular vocabulary learning? ... Here are the first ten ex...

Which I also see in some textbooks. Textbooks...schmectbooks! Those have been so wrong so often that I'm afraid I have little faith left in them. (I know I am showing my bias, here, but I simply cannot help myself. It appears to me that the writers of most of the textbooks do almost no thinking for...

Not so fast Larry, I've already done the first bit. IMO due to progression of meaning, the natural order is: can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, had better, must The question is: is the progression between modals constant? OK, Andy . Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions too fast here. B...

Now that I have defined a continuum, I realise that fitting the modals into one requires that: 1) the modals be ordered into a natural progression of meaning, and 2) the change of meaning between each modal is constant and linear too. In this way the modals are analagous to the cardinal numbers. Th...

Andy , you've more than earned an unconditional welcome into pretty much any discussion at Dave's, I should think. At any rate, you're welcome here. So are any others who can illuminate this black hole. But I must admit, you're over my head with your post. I've never understood the distinctions bet...

Where's the fun in seeing things the same way? Ah yes, how right you are there. Pretty much of a yawn if we all gush over how much we agree. Disagreement between mutually respecting points-of-view is oh-so-much more interesting. I earlier said: I wouldn't disagree that a user can do this. However, ...

I consider you as an equal, and not a student. I am genuinely flattered that you would think so, M56 , as I know you have an advanced degree in linguistics. I, on the other hand, have no formal education or training in linguistics. So I am certainly in a position to be your student, and eager to ab...

Well, I don't really quite know what it means. (I'm sure you'll be able to tell me). But it sounds more plausible to me than 'modal certainty'.

I am eager to be your student! But expect challenges.

Larry Latham

"Modal certainty" next.

I can hardly wait. Sounds like an oxymoron to me!!!

Larry Latham

By all means, how about some of the usual suspects (or even some new ones) jumping into this debate!!! All opinions (and some facts) are welcome.

Larry Latham

Sentences with "one or more" always take a plural verb. Of course, I'm sure you already know that the general rule of thumb (it's not exactly a "rule" in the classic sense) is that the form normally chosen agrees with the 'proximate' part of "one or more". If the sentence actually were: " In the ve...

As I said before, M56, I suppose you and I are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

But that's all right. I have loads of respect for your opinions (even if not for your facts )

Larry Latham

Next time a safari guide says to you something like: You've been bitten by a poisonous snake You must get to a hospital as or to someone with an antidote soon as possible. why not reply "Is that your opinion? See what they say. I would totally expect them to say: "It certainly is." or something els...

That's a really excellent observation, Jose . :D I wonder too. Can you think of any reason why these are not two facets of the same gem? One thing I will say is that native speakers generally always prefer unstressed forms unless they are emphasizing something. Also, we are lazy, so almost anything ...

I agree with Lewis' statement about the non-factuality (in the eyes of the speaker) of "will", but he omits to mention that he is referring to categorical fact. Nowhere does he overtly discuss modal fact, i.e. i.e., statements of possibility or necessity. Here are some examples of modal factual sta...