Student Stumper 33: Is “would” more polite than “could”?

QUESTION: What’s the difference between would and could?

ANSWER: This question was posted on my forum, and it began a discussion on modals. I first explored differences in meaning. I listed uses of would, including future in the past (You promised you would tell me!) and habitual past (When I was a child, I would ask my grandmother to tell me stories.) Then I explained how could expresses past ability (When Grandma was younger, she could do a cartwheel!) Finally, I noted the overlap in making requests, showing how the two verbs could be interchangeable (Would you please help me?/ Could you please help me?) This is when the student asked if it was correct to assume that “would” is more polite than “could.”

A funny thing happens when you are asked to commit to an answer and put it in print for possibly a hundred or more pairs of eyes to read. You sometimes doubt what you had previously felt certain about. Are “would” and “could” equally polite? I thought so. I did some reflection… and I still think so.

I believe one factor that equalizes these two modal verbs is pronunciation. Either verb could become rude with a change in sentence stress and intonation. For example, compare “Could you please pick that up?” and “Could you please pick that up?!” (Click here to listen.) In these examples, the modal would can be used to perform the same function: (1) make a polite request with no demand or urgency/ (2) make an impatient request born out of frustration.

In terms of choosing between would and could, we can help students by explaining that certain structures suit specific situations best. Examples:

1. would you like = Would you like to sit down? (polite offer/ invitation)

2. would you mind = Would you mind moving down one seat? (tentative request with some worry that it will cause offense, inconvenience, etc.)

3. would it be possible = Would it be possible for you to pick me up on your way to work? (similar to would you mind, used to make an inquiry about a desired action/ request for a favor)

Can you think of any others?

Basic Abilities: Teaching modal verbs to express ability

The next time you must teach can/ could to lower level students, consider these two activities.

1.) MUSICAL CHALLENGE. “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” is a duet from the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun.  You’ll find various versions of Irving Berlin’s song on the Internet, giving you the chance to select the one with the right flavor for your students. The most famous performance is likely from the 1950 screen version. Someone has posted an excerpt on YouTube featuring the popular song, and it’s just over three minutes. (Start at :25). You can ask lower level students to identify only the main challenges posed by each singer. Supply fill-in-the-blank statements, which students must complete as they listen to the song.

a. Anything you can (be) I can (be) greater. I can (be) anything greater than you.

b. Any note you can (reach) I can (go) higher.  I can (sing) any note higher than you.

c. Anything you can (buy) I can (buy) cheaper. I can (buy) anything cheaper than you.

d. Any note you can (sing) I can (sing) softer. I can (sing) any note softer than you.

e. Any note you can (hold) I can (hold) longer. I can (hold) any note longer than you.

f. Anything you can (wear) I can (wear) better. I can (wear) anything better than you.

g. Anything you can (say) I can (say) faster. I can (say) anything faster than you.

Intermediate students could be challenged to identify additional challenges as well as the negative comment “Neither can I.” (Said at 3:00)

As follow-up, you can have students write similar sentences in which they compare themselves to a close friend or relative. Model: Anything I can bake my mother can bake better. My mother can bake anything better than me.

2) WHAT ARE THEY FAMOUS FOR?

STEP 1 – Gather pictures of famous people known for specific talents. Suggestions: David Copperfield, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Julia Roberts, Celine Dion, Shakespeare, Steven Spielberg, Mikhail Baryshnikov. Post the pictures on the front board.

STEP 2 – Have students work in pairs to indentify each famous person. Provide two model statements with the modal verbs can, can’t, could, or couldn’t.  Be sure to illustrate the need for the past form when speaking about a past ability. Example A (Serena Williams): Serena Williams is a tennis player. She can play tennis very well. Serena’s sister Venus usually can’t beat her. Example B (Elvis Presley): Elvis was a singer and musician. He could sing very well.

STEP 3 – Have volunteers read their statements to the class. Confirm the accuracy of the information and then the use of modal verbs.

STEP 4 – Have students move into small groups to answer these questions:

a. Can you do anything these famous people can or could? (I can sing, but I can’t sing like Celine Dion.)

b. Do you know another famous person who can do something as well as or better than one of the people listed on the board? (I like the magician Criss Angel. I think he can do better magic than David Copperfield.)

If you’re working with intermediate students and wish to contrast ability with possibility, you can pose a third question: If you could have the talent of one of these famous people, whose talent would you like to have? Finish this sentence: “If I could ___________(do what?) like ___________ (whom?), I would be very happy.”

Magic, Mysteries, and Modals

Upon my return from my vacation, a YouTube viewer did me the favor of selecting my next video topic. The viewer did not merely request a language point, but also suggested a theme. Many have asked me to make videos on modal verbs, but this was the first request for the perfect aspect, namely must have + past participle. How wonderful, I thought, for someone to narrow down such a broad topic. And the theme that was suggested? My summer vacation. The wheels in my head immediately began turning, and today I posted English Grammar Lesson 26 on using modals to express past possibilities.

For those teachers who wish to get a little more mileage out of the lesson, here are a few suggestions.

• Mystery Destination. Have each student think of their favorite vacation. They will write their name at the top of a sheet of paper followed by 3-4 clues about the destination of the chosen vacation. Post their papers along one wall and ask students to move from paper to paper, reading the clues and making their guesses. Encourage guesses to be written in full sentences using a modal verb: Bo must have gone to the mountains.  Give them approximately 10 minutes to do this. Have students take their seats and then ask the class to volunteer their guesses about their classmates. They should explain their logic:  Bo must have gone to the mountains because he said he did some hiking and fishing. Remind students that if anyone is certain of his or her guess, no modal verb should be used.
• Detectives for a Day. There are a number of sites offering short mysteries online. Ones written for children might work better in terms of language level and length. For example, MysteryNet’s Kid Mysteries has a collection of “Quick Solve” stories. The one about a mysterious footprint in a freshly paved sidewalk (The Case of the Defaced Sidewalk) could generate sentences such as: It couldn’t have been Brittany because she sprained her ankle the day before.
• Magic Tricks Revealed. If you can do your own tricks, start with an easy one. Have students guess how you did it. Chances are they will know, and you can emphasize the need for no modals when there is 100% certainty. If you’re unable to wow students with a more complex trick, let the professionals help you. Magicians and magic tricks appear in abundance on YouTube. Let them watch one and write down possible explanations. This can be done in pairs before guesses are shared with you. Here’s one clip from America’s Got Talent. (The magician saws a standing man in half and then pieces the body together. > He might have used a robot of some kind in the bottom half of the body.)

Smart Ideas for Using Dumb Laws and Warnings for Language Instruction

I hadn’t visited the Dumb Laws and Dumb Warnings sites for a number of years. I recently took a look and recalled both the potential laughs and lessons that can be found there. There’s an entire Dumb Network that includes sites with silly photos, quotes, facts, and more. Consider the possibilities:

• Dumb Laws   

1.  Use laws to teach modal verbs. Alabama apparently informs all residents of the following: “You must have windshield wipers on your car.” (page 1) Furthermore, “Masks may not be worn in public.”(page 1) Such laws spark smiles and conversation among language learners, and they nicely contextualize modal verbs of necessity. You can have students rewrite a set of laws using a modal verb. You can demonstrate the process with another law made in Alabama: “It is illegal to bike, roller-skate, skateboard, or inline skate in a commercially zoned area.” (page 1) >> You cannot bike, roller-skate, skateboard, or inline skate in a commercially zoned area.
2. Use laws to practice target sounds. Do you need a sentence that places /l/ in an initial, medial, and final position? Here’s a law in Lee County, AL: “It is illegal to sell peanuts in Lee County after sundown on Wednesday.” (page ) Or do you need to contrast voiced and unvoiced consonants? For /p/: “If one wishes to read palms in the city, they must first pay $10 for a permit.” (page 20) For /p/ and /b/: “People may not slurp their soup.” / “Pinball machines are not to be played on Sunday.” (NY, page 1) As students discuss the logic behind each law, they’ll be using the target sounds.

 

 

• Dumb Warnings  

1. Use warnings to present vocabulary in context. The warnings are wonderfully brief, and the context is sufficient to understand meanings of unfamiliar words. For example, Dolly Madison Bakery Cherries stuck this label on their cans: “Artificially flavored real fruit.” You can focus on the definition of “artificially” and present the adjective form “artificial”. Discuss what other things are artificially flavored (toothpaste, medicine, etc.) and what kinds of common objects are artificial (flowers, some museum exhibits, etc.)
2. Use warnings to teach conditionals. You can present a set of laws that are written with an “if” clause and then ask students to change a second set so that they also are written with an “if” clause. You can also introduce more advanced uses of “if”. For instance, the Energizer AAA battery 4-pack reads, “If swallowed, promptly see a doctor.” Here we have “if” followed by a past participle to express a passive meaning. You can ask students to rewrite the warning given by Windex (the glass and mirror cleaner): “Do not spray in eyes.” >> If sprayed in eyes,… and discuss what course of action would be advisable.
3. Use warnings as a conversational springboard. I love the warning placed on a Batman costume: “Warning: Cape does not enable user to fly.” Have students recall silly and/ or dangerous things they did as children. Did they get hurt? Did anyone warn them or try to stop them from doing these acts? The larger topic is why such so-called dumb warnings are issued by companies. An advanced group of students could debate the need to create numerous warnings for a new product and the worth of lawsuits filed by individual consumers.

Student Stumper 21: May vs. Might

QUESTION: Is it true that the only difference between MAY and MIGHT is that MAY is stronger?

ANSWER: 

Yes, but only when we’re talking about possibilities. I may get my work done early if I don’t run into any trouble. This suggests it’s possible that I’ll finish early. Compare: If the computer screen stops freezing every five minutes, I might get this work done today. This suggests that finishing the work is a possibility but not a very strong one.

However, does the meaning change significantly in either example if we switch MAY and MIGHT? I’d argue no. In many sentences that express a low degree of likelihood, any meaning difference between these two modal verbs is so minor that students shouldn’t worry over making an incorrect choice. It’s fine to note the commonly recognized difference in degree between MAY and MIGHT, but I think what’s more important to explain is:

• MAY changes to MIGHT in reported speech to indicate something said in the past:

 “I may go out later,” said Peter.  – Peter said that he might go out later.

• MAY is used for permission (not MIGHT)

May I ask you a personal question?

Visitors may not park in numbered spaces. Only residents may do so.

• MAY can also be substituted with CAN in some situations. Greenbaum and Quirk note that when this is possible, CAN is considered the less formal of the two[1] (Students should be aware of how relatively rare MAY is used in everyday spoken English.)

May/ Can I ask you a personal question?

Visitors may not/ can’t park in numbered spaces. Only residents may do so/ can.

Whales may be seen in these waters in the summer months./ Whales can be seen around here in the summertime.

• MAY, MIGHT, and COULD can all be used in to express a low degree of certainty, with the last two being favored in conversation.

You know something, you may be right./ you might be right./ you could be right.

Biber, Conrad, and Leech note that in this case, could expresses the most doubt.[2]

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[1] Greenbaum and Quirk. A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. Longman: 1995. P.61.

[2]  Biber, Conrad, and Leech. Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Pearson Education: 2002. P.179.

Story Starters and Endings: A writing activity to practice “Must” and “Have To”

Level: Illustrated below for advanced students, but possible to modify the activity for lower level students. Simply limit the number of functions and forms the students are exposed to.

STEP 1 – Prepare your own short stories and/ or copy the ones below. Each one should either lack a beginning or an ending. A question using either must or have to should prompt students to compose missing information. The stories should collectively model the functions, strength, and different levels of formality of must and have to.

Model stories:

“The Worst Date Ever”

The evening was over, and Caroline couldn’t get into her house fast enough. She jumped out of the car, slammed the door, and didn’t look back. Peter quickly caught up with her, and cried, “Wait! Can I call you again?” Caroline’s eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed in anger. “No,” she said.

What must have happened on Caroline and Peter’s date?

 

“Roommate Wanted”

Mike and Frank are roommates. Mike gets upset when Frank leaves the lights on after leaving a room, throws away food that’s only half-eaten, and takes long showers, which leaves little hot water for Mike’s shower. Mike has asked Frank to be careful about not wasting things, but Frank doesn’t seem to care.

How can Mike get Frank to understand he has to save food and resources, not waste them?

 

“No-Go”

Gina applied for a teaching position at a college. She was told that her one year of experience wasn’t enough. They were looking for someone with at least four more years of classroom experience. She wants to prove she can do the job, and wonders how to secure an interview.

How many years must candidates have worked to be qualified for the position?

 

“Wrong Attire”

Leo walks into the office, and all the heads turn. A few do their best not to laugh, but most of the workers simply look shocked. Leo’s best friend and co-worker quickly walks up to him and whispers, “What’s going on? Where’s the usual shirt and tie?”

What must Leo be wearing to make everyone respond this way?

 

“Meeting VIPs”

Thomas was excited to be in the same room with so many important people. He had already shaken hands with the Vice-President of the United States. Now he was about to greet a princess. He’d never spoken to royalty before. He suddenly got nervous since he didn’t know how exactly to greet her.

Does Thomas have to bow to the princess, or can he offer his hand?

[Note: It takes time to create these short situations, but you most certainly can recycle this activity with another group.]

 

STEP 2 – Students may work individually or in pairs to answer the questions in written form. Pair work nicely integrates speaking skills into the activity, but solo work would require each student to demonstrate his or her understanding of the target verbs.

Model [Based on story above]

“The Worst Date Ever”

Peter must have done something that really upset Caroline. He probably said something rude, or maybe he was too friendly with the waitress at the restaurant where he and Caroline had dinner.

 

STEP 3 – Have volunteers read the stories and their answers to the  questions. Allow different variations to be shared.

What’s a Must When Teaching “Must” and “Have To”?

At the request of a fellow teacher, I’m going to review and expand on a posting I shared about one year ago titled Teaching Modal Verbs: Function, Strength, and Formality. This time around, I’d like to focus specifically on must and the modal-like expression have to.

Points to cover when teaching must and have to:

 

• They are equal in degree in the affirmative. They can express a high degree of necessity or certainty (close but not quite 100%). 

You must/ have to pay before you pump gas into your car.

You must/ have to be crazy!

 

• Have to in the negative loses its strength and expresses the idea of choice, in other words, an action is not necessary but rather optional. 

You have to pay before you pump gas into your car. = It’s necessary to pay before you pump gas into your car.

You don’t have to pay before you pump gas into your car. = It doesn’t matter if you pay before or after.

• When expressing necessity in the present, have to is preferred in informal (spoken) English and must is generally used in formal speech.  

 

• When expressing necessity in the past, only have to is possible. Must have (+ past participle) expresses near certainty about the past. 

[necessity] We must/have to take the test today. BUT We had to take the test yesterday.

[certainty] The professor must have been very pleased with everyone’s results because he was smiling when he handed back the graded tests.

NOTE: The exception to the above would be using must have (+ past participle) to state a requirement that must be met in order for additional action to be taken. In other words, necessary action was taken at some point in the past, and as a result, the party who performed that action may now proceed with his or her plan. Example: [from the University of Wisconsin webiste.]

Applicants must have earned at least 24 applicable semester credits prior to transfer. Applicants must have completed high-school-level algebra and plane geometry, college preparatory math, and two high-school years or two college semesters of the same foreign language.

 

• Speakers use not only shortened forms (contractions) of must and have (got) to, but also reduced forms*. The reduced forms are not considered correct in written form. Examples: 

Must not = mustn’t (“You mustn’t tell anyone.”)

Must have = musta* (“You musta been really worried. Weren’t you?”)

Have (got) to = I’ve got to/ I got to/ I gotta* (“I gotta go.”)

Have to= hafta*  (“I hafta to.”) 

 

In the next posting, I’ll try to offer ideas for exercises and/ or an activity on this topic.

Let’s Talk about that Lesser Used Modal Verb, Shall We?

Every so often I get asked by students about the modal verb shall. It seems like its mention in U.S.-published grammar books is little more than a brief note tacked on to the main presentation. As a result, I feel inclined to remark that in American English the use of shall is very limited, and I avoid spending too much time explaining its use. But then I usually encounter a real-world example of this modal and wonder if always downplaying its use is a wise course of action.

The fact is although the use of shall is not common in everyday situations, the verb still exists in American English. Furthermore, in today’s global world, the communication English language learners will participate in is not restricted to one kind of English. Through literature, songs, online articles, international acquaintances, and more, our learners will encounter a variety of Englishes. Hearing the use of a modal verb they never learned about in class will raise some questions.

So what’s the answer? While I don’t necessarily see the need for an entire class devoted to the use of shall, I do think it’s worth including the verb in a number of lessons, for example, on modal verbs (obligation and invitation), tag questions, and formal/ business writing.

Tip 1: Provide real-world examples and let students identify the meaning and use of the verb.

• Film title: Shall We Dance?
• Folk wisdom: This too shall pass.
• Song title: We Shall Overcome
• TV documentary on the Native American experience: We Shall Remain
• Common opener: Let’s get started, shall we?

Tip 2: Call attention to contexts and help students understand the level of formality in each one.

• From the U.S. Constitution. Article 1, Section 1.  All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
• Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.: We Shall Overcome
• “We shall see about that.” Line from Anne of Green Gables, set in early twentieth-century Canada. (Note the time period.)

Tip 3: Call attention to varieties of Englishes and help students form conclusions about how common shall is among different speakers of English.

• “What time shall we have dinner?” Line from an article “No Kidding: Diary of a Child-free Couple” in the London Times, July 11, 2009.

Tip 4: Provide one or two good dictionary entries on shall so that students can clarify and solidify their understanding.

•  YourDictionary.com lists five clear and simple uses along with examples. Here’s just one: (usage #3) “Used in the statements of law or regulations. The fine shall not exceed $200.”
• The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English  lists four concise uses. It is careful to note which are common in spoken or formal English and which one is more common in British English.

Tip 5: Have a source that you can refer to so that you can more easily answer students’ questions.

• Wikipedia covers etymology and modern usage.

Student Stumper 6: The Wh- Infinitive in Indirect Speech

QUESTION:  If the reported statement is he asked me when to come, what was the original statement? “When to come?” Can I ask that?

ANSWER:  

No. When to come? is not a grammatically correct question. The original statement was probably when should I come? It could also have been what time do you want me to come?

It’s not always easy to figure out the exact words the speaker used when you hear his or her words secondhand. At some point when teaching reported speech, we need to explain that there’s a degree of interpretation. The person reporting must accurately convey the meaning, but doesn’t necessarily have to use the same structures.

Modals in questions can often be reported using wh- infinitives. One source explains that the wh- infinitive (also called the infinitive wh- clause) is used with an obligational sense, but after some thought, I decided to expand on that:

• [obligation] “Where should I go?” = He asked where to go. – OR – He asked where he should go.
• [possibility] “How can I call without a cell phone?” = He asked how to call without a cell phone. – OR – He asked how he could call without a cell phone.

In doing research, I found confirmation that among the wh- words why isn’t used in wh- infinitives, but how is. For example, we can say how to do it, but we cannot say why to do it. This can be confusing to students if we teach use the term wh- infinitive since why has the wh- spelling but how doesn’t.

…This last point could actually be the topic of another posting. Why is it that we can say how to do it, but we cannot say why to do it? We can only ask why do it? So if we can ask why do it? to mean why should I do it? why can’t we say when do it? to mean when should I do it? Ah, the beauty of the English language.

 

 

Sources:

Greenbaum, Sidney and Randolph Quirk. A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. Longman: 1990.

 http://www.iei.uiuc.edu/structure/structure1/complements.html

Teaching Real Life Skills: Reading Signs

Part of an ESL teacher’s job is to help the language learner better function in the host country. One important skill to have is reading signs. They’re everywhere, and the information they convey does not apply to drivers alone. Consider the simplest of signs: ENTRANCE ONLY, NO SMOKING, EMERGENCY EXIT: Alarm will sound.  Then there are more detailed signs about fines for trespassing, the danger of guard dog, lanes merging on a highway, etc.

Thankfully, there are alternatives to stealing public property, carting real signs into your classroom, and showing them to your students. Yahoo images has plenty of photos to select from. You can download and print out 10-12 signs for classroom use.  I recently discovered an interesting compilation of signs by Tana Hoban. See if your local library has this title available: I Read Signs. (Children’s Literature)

You can tie this reading activity in with a grammar lesson on modal verbs. As you show each sign to the class, provide a choice of two modal verbs (or modal-like expressions). Have them write their interpretation. Require them to write at least one sentence per sign, but the challenge is to write two.

 

EXAMPLE-

The sign reads: SLOW…CHILDREN AT PLAY

You provide two prompts: MUST / CAN’T

Possible interpretations by students: “You must drive slowly because children play on this street.” / “Drivers can’t go fast because there are children playing here.”