Dhugal TP 8

Last night I met with Hamad at Starbucks for a tutoring session. I planned on going over some modals with him. It is amazing how much a modal can change the meaning of a sentence, and I never truly realized this until I had to explain it, looking at modals through the eyes of a learner. According to my gramar book, modals are usually taught in two ways: for beginners, they are taught one by one; for the more advanced, they are grouped and taught by their meaning or connotation (modals that imply request-may, can, would, could, will).

I went ahead with the modal ‘have to’, which implies necessity or obligation. I have to clean my car tomorrow, or doctors have to treat their patients. I think we use this modal everyday. Hamad didn’t have too much trouble with this, and we did some practice, whereby we would ask each other questions that made us use the modal, including the past tense.

We went over the modal ‘must’ in both its senses. One meaning is necessity: You must brush your teeth. The other is probability or conclusion. For example, in response to a question such as “How many soldiers died in World War Two?”, I would answer-not being sure of the amount but coming to a probable conclusion-“I don’t know, but it must have been at least a million.” Hamad brought up a good question. He asked why must is followed by ‘have been’ and not ‘had been’, isn’t this war in the past? Having an eager student is very enjoyable, but you must be prepared to think on your feet, they will ask you questions you weren’t expecting. We worked through this problem together, and the way I explained it (I could be completely wrong, and maybe I should’ve stuck with a “Just ‘cause”):

Have+ the past participle is used following must because the doubt and uncertainty inherent in a probability continue to the present day, when the question is being asked. 

Sounds good at least.