Back to: English Language Primary 4
Welcome to class!
In today’s class, we will be talking about using past, present, and future tense sentences in making statement/sentences. Enjoy the class!
Using past, present, and future tense sentences in making statement/sentences
Simple conversation using the appropriate words – using modal auxiliaries to make sentences in a contextual situation to bring out the meaning
The modal auxiliary must, has only that one form. It has no infinitive, no past tense, no future and no participles. But let us look at its meaning.
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Must as a command:
The main meaning of must suggests a command or an obligation.
- Richard must finish his work before he goes home.
- You must write your exercise neatly.
- I must try hard to understand this lesson.
Or, in the negative:
- You mustn’t play football in the street.
- People must not try to feed these animals.
- I mustn’t go to sleep in the grammar lesson.
Sometimes the opposite of must is must not [mustn’t) and sometimes it is need not (needn’t).
Use mustn’t when the meaning suggests a command. Use needn’t when the meaning is ‘It isn’t necessary’.
Here is one more example:
- You must (affirmative) give the man $2 (two pounds).
- You mustn’t (negative) give the man $2. (Don’t do it.)
- You needn’t (negative) give the man $2. (It isn’t necessary, but you can do as you please, give it or not give it.)
We can’t use will with must. So, to express the future we use have to:
- I’ll have to see the dentist tomorrow about my bad tooth.
- They will have to run if they want to catch the train.
For the past we use had to:
- I had to go to the dentist yesterday about my bad tooth.
- They had to run to catch the train.
In our next class, we will be talking about Identification of Nouns in Sentences, etc. We hope you enjoyed the class.
Should you have any further question, feel free to ask in the comment section below and trust us to respond as soon as possible.