Introduction sur l'usage des modaux en anglais

Thèmes abordés

Linguistique, grammaire, conjugaison, anglais, modaux, verbes défectifs, modalité, subjectivité, objectivité, prétérit, présent perfect, participe passé, auxiliaire, base verbale

Résumé du document

Les modaux et tournures de substitutions s'utilisent selon des règles particulières. Le modal implique en effet la subjectivité du locuteur, par exemple : "You must read this book" équivaut ici à "I advise you to". De même pour l'exemple "He may come tonight", qui signifie plutôt "I think he will probably come".

En revanche concernant la tournure de substitution, celle-ci implique un caractère objectif : "You have to read this book, it's on your syllabus", ou encore : "You are allowed to come with us according to the school rules".

Extraits

[...] 1ère personne I can chose my own collaborators. allowed to chose prétérit attention : might Could : permission permanente On saturday night, we coud stay up late Was were allowed to : permission ponctuelle I had a visa so I was allowed to cross the border Forme négative We weren't allowed to take our dog in that restaurant. Couldn't take Autre temps : to be allowed to They had been allowed to speak to hm for a few minutes III/ L'obligation forme affirmative must vs have to Présent : les deux formes sont possibles 1ere personne I must wear a tie for this interview if I want to e taken seriously I have to wear a tie at the office I have to go to London every week I'm afraid I must go now 've got to 2ème personne Janet, you must stop smoking so much You have to stop smoking before entering the theater If you drive through Lyon, you must stop you've got to stop and visit us 3ème personne She has to hand in a paper every other week In this office, the staff have to be at their desks at 9.00 Candidates must stay until the end of the exam : si la personne qui parle est celle qui a fait le réglement Prétérit Une seule possibilité : They had to dismiss / lay off 50 emloyees last year I had to work harder if I wanted to succed ( pas de distinction car au passé, au présent on dirait must ) If the crisis had continued, we would have had to dismiss many employees ( nous aurions dû licencier de nombreux employés ) would + have + v-ed Autres temps have to . [...]

[...] He will be able to help you, I'll do what I can to help you Can you come tomorrow ? Conditionnel If he asked you to replace him, would you be able to do it? Could you do it II/ La permission modal may/ can tournure de substitution : to be allowed to présent Demande de permission May I borrow your pen ? May I smoke ? Please do. Could I borrow your pen ? - Yes you can. [...]

[...] They were just on time. ( on a pas eu besoin d'attendre ) : action non nécessaire, n'a pas eu lieu Objectif We needn't have waited. They never came ( ça ne valait pas la peine d'attendre ) : action a eu lieu et je constate subjectif qu'elle n'était pas nécessaire I didn't need to buy a ticket he gave me his. ( je n'ai pas eu à acheter à ticket ) I needn't have bought a ticket, the controller were on strike Autres temps You won't have to stay till the end c ) Forme interrogative Présent Forme la plus courante : avec have Does he have to go ? [...]

[...] Rappel : avec les verbes de perception involontaire I can't see anything I can hear a baby crying. J'entends pleurer Can you remember their phone number ? Est ce que tu te rappelles prétérit could ou “was-were able Could : faculté/ capacité permanent ( possibilité virtuelle ) When he was a child, he could speak japonese fluently were able : capacité effective, réalisation précise Yesterday, I was able to speak with my daughter on the phone In spite of the strike, they were able to / they managed to deliver the goods on time. [...]

[...] Autres temps : avec have to Did he have to inform the staff ? A-t-il dû ? Was he to informed the staff ? Devait-il . ? Etait-il censé Doit il porter une cravate depuis qu'il a commencé à travailler dans ce bureau? Doute ? [...]