English Class Notes

Common American Expressions 1

2019-04-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

After you! Allow me! Beats me! Believe you me!
Better left unsaid! Bite your tongue! Bottoms up!

Click on each phrase to hear it spoken.

Visit this exercise to practice the expressions:

Advanced English For Professionals

2016-03-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Resources and personal help to improve your English as you go through your busy life.

Advanced English for Professionals

My Protopage: Curriculum Links

2015-12-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to my Protopage

It has my calendar and curriculum links for learning and improving English for all levels and ages.

After You

2015-12-20T16:19:00.001-08:00

After you

Common-Expressions in Practice

This is an invitation to go first.

People typically utter this phrase whenever they open a door for another person.

It is a common expression of politeness, Common-Expressions in Practice

but when the invitation is to be the first to do something daring, then it is more of an expression of cowardice.

Common-Expressions in Practice

Common American Expressions 1

2014-12-09T23:18:00.001-08:00

After you! Allow me! Beats me! Believe you me!
Better left unsaid! Bite your tongue! Bottoms up!

Click on each phrase to hear it spoken.
Visit this exercise to practice the expressions:
Common American Expressions 1
http://englishinteractive.net/vocabulary/Common-Expressions/AmeriPhrases-1.html

Probability of Modal Verbs

2014-12-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

Modal verbs for probability

A modal verb is a word that expresses mood or attitude toward the action verb.

Obligation - must, have to, ought to, be supposed to, should

Volition - want to, would like to, intend to

Ability - can, could, be able to

Desire - want, want to, would like to, like to, love to, would love/hate to

Probability - may be, might be, could be, can be, will be.

Using modal verbs to express probability is sometimes a source of confusion for English learners.

The modal verbs below are the indicative case. They indicate a fact or actuality.

Indicative

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

shall will want to must can may

If the Almighty says it shall rain, then it shall rain with 100% certainty.

If the weatherman says it will rain, it will rain with about 90% certainty. (He's only human.)

If there are dark, stormy clouds in the sky and the wind is blowing hard, we might say "It wants to rain," but the probability is only around 80% that it will indeed rain.

If it hasn't rained in a while, and the humidity is high, you can say "it must rain," but the probability that it will (do as it must) is only around 70%.

If the weatherman has said there is a 60% chance of rain, then be prepared because it can rain even if you hope it won't.

If the weather report calls for only a 50% chance, then you have more reason to hope, but it may still rain in spite of your optimism.

Subjunctive

The modal verbs below are the subjunctive case. They express what is imagined or wished for.

Each indicative modal verb has a subjunctive partner which cuts the probability in half.

50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25%
should would would like to ought to could might
While a declaration using "shall" shows certain and definite intentions, using "should" throws the intention into complete doubt.

If a smoker says "I should quit smoking," there is a 50% chance that he/she won't do it, so it sounds doubtful. However, if your boss says "I should give you a raise," it might sound hopeful to you. Beware though that there is still only a 50% chance that you will get that raise, so don't count on it too heavily.

If you ask a friend to help you do a task, and they reply "I would..," then you know you will soon hear the word "but..," and the chances that your friend will actually help you are only 45% - less than half, but still a possibility. Instead of "but" the next word could be "if" which means that if certain conditions are met, your friend would indeed come through for you.
If, however, your friend says "I would like to..," you can be sure that the next word is "but" and that the likelihood of getting help from this friend is only 40%.

Returning to the smoker who says "I ought to quit smoking," you can be fairly certain that he/she has little intention of quitting. Even if they must (70%), using the words "ought to" drops the probability to a mere 35% leaving major doubt about the smokers intention to quit.

Returning to the weather forecast, if the weatherman predicts a 30% chance of rain, we might not be too concerned that it will rain on our picnic, but we should be prepared because it could still rain that day.

If the forecast is only for 25%, few of us will worry, but there is still a (slim) chance that it might rain on our picnic nevertheless.

Modal Verb Probability Chart

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

shall will want to must can may

50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25%

should would would like to ought to could might

englishinteractive.net

The chart above shows the relationships of probability among the modal verbs. The subjunctive partner of each indicative modal verb cuts its probability in half. When using modal verbs to express probability the relationships are somewhat different from the basic meanings. The basic meanings of "must" and "should" are quite close together when they both express obligation. If your parents tell you that you "should" behave, they are politely saying that you "must" behave. According to the probability chart, however, those two are far apart from each other, so they can't be used as synonyms of each other.If you suspect that a situation exists, the strongest probability that you can assign that suspicion is 70%. That is, the situation must exist. (- as far as you know - Otherwise, you could say that it does exist.) Saying "the situation should exist," at 50%, drops the probability a full 20% below "must exist," so it isn't interchangeable in this sense.

Something must be the matter with Molly today. She may be angry about something. She could be upset about her exams, but she should have passed them easily. She can't be upset about her upcoming birthday, because she should be getting that car she wanted. She must be happy about that.
She could be upset about her computer. It must be broken again. She just had it repaired, so it should be working fine.

To learn more about the probability of modal verbs and do some practice exercises, check out this article from Seonaid's Perfect English Grammar

Certain, probable, or possible
Modal Verb probability exercise

Englishinteractive

2014-12-07T12:48:00.002-08:00

I've updated my Directory of Free Resources for English Learners.

I hope it's easy to find what you're looking for among the free exercises, lessons, tutorials, audio samples, and animation for learning and practicing English.

Let me know if you have any problems.

History of English

2014-05-26T12:39:00.001-07:00

Quick and comical, but it is also accurate and interesting.

Skills you need

2014-04-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

Skills you need

This is a very useful site. I recommend reading every page.
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/

Spellchecker Poem

2013-02-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

All of these words are spelled wrong, but the spellchecker thinks they are fine.

Why commas are important

2012-04-03T16:12:00.001-07:00

Animated Poetry

2012-02-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Digital Dialects language learning games

2011-04-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

Hvernig hefur þú það? - Ég skil ekki.

How are you? - I don't understand. (Icelandic)

Digital Dialects language learning games

List of paradoxes

2011-03-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Petronius's Paradox: Practice moderation in all things. Including moderation.

10 Ways to Support English Language Learning With The New York Times - NYTimes.com

2011-03-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

10 Ways to Support English Language Learning With The New York Times - NYTimes.com

Emboucher

2010-12-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

Through the coverture of the miniature aperture,

The amateur admired her curvature.

As a connoisseur of her pedicure,

He likened this plat du jour with haute couture,

But this being Yom Kippur, he demured

And reassured her that, while his overture was premature,

His love for her, to be sure, paramour, was geniture.

He was, however, insecure.

Seeing her allure

Wrapped only in fur,

He warmed to a Reaumur temperature.

Turning the color of green manure,

He wasn’t a pretty portraiture.

He could only imagine his emboucher

Fast on her garnitured cynosure,

Manicured just as many are,

And tasting her signature epicure.

He pondered how many men ever were

Permitted the singular adventure

Of venturing lips to her manicure.

by Lizz Caplan and Merriam-Webster

Really!?! with Seth and Amy

2010-11-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

All the uses of "really" along with some really sordid news.
Video clips from SNL's News Update

Word of the Day

2010-04-15T15:05:00.001-07:00

Word of the Day

Word of the Day
provided by The Free Dictionary

Article of the Day

Article of the Day
provided by The Free Dictionary

Japanese Table Manners vs. American

2010-01-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

25 types of coworkers

2009-12-03T17:01:00.001-08:00

In-depth vocabulary for the workplace.

Knot Eye

2009-10-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

What noise annoys an oyster?

2009-07-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

A noisy noise annoys an oyster.

ə noi zi noi zə noi zə noi stər

Raffaello Sanzio's "Sistene Madonna"

2009-03-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Words

2009-03-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

My word!

May I have a word with you?

We had words.

What's the word?

The word is plastic.

Mum's the word.

I give you my word.

Don't break your word.

Shakespeare's Sonnet XV

2009-03-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and cheque'd even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.