Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

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You can’t be serious

= ‘it isn’t possible that you are serious’

She might phone

= ‘it is possible that she’ll phone’

It must be the middle of the night

= ‘I’m fairly certain that it’s the middle of the night’

Might/mɑit/ can be used with the BASE-FORM of any verb to show that it is possible that something will happen. Here are some more examples:

James might come with us

Your sister might help you with your homework

We might arrive late at the party

And we can add notto show that it’s possible that something won’t happen:

James might not come with us

= ‘it’s possible that James won’t come’

Your sister might not want to help

We might not be in time

And instead of mightwe can use may/mεi/ or could/kυd/: James may come with us

We could arrive late

Be careful!We don’t use canto mean possibility:



James can come with us

= ‘James is able to come with us’

not

‘it’s possible that James will come’

So, for example:

‘It’s possible that it’s too late’

It might be too late

It may be too late

It could be too late

but not

‘It can be too late’

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Exercise 3

Use can’t, mightand mustto make these sentences more colloquial

– the first one has been done for you.

1 It isn’t possible that he’s late.

→ He can’t be late

2 It’s possible that James is ill.

→

3 It isn’t possible that you’re right.

→

4 It’s fairly certain that you’re joking!

→

5 It’s possible that it’ll snow tonight.

→

6 It’s fairly certain that they like

Indian food.

→

7 It isn’t possible that this is true.

→

8 It’s possible that Terry will come later.

→

9 It’s possible that the rain will stop soon. →

10 It isn’t possible that Pete thinks that.

→

Exercise 4

Correct the following sentences. Be careful – one of them doesn’t need correcting.

1

You don’t can be serious!

2

I might to phone Julie after dinner.

3

It musts be very hot in Australia in the summer.

4

We’re having got to do the shopping.

5

Did Adrian got to work late yesterday?

6

Did you had to light the fire yourself?

7

Gerry might call in later on.

8

I’ve get to got some money from the bank.

Dialogue 4

Jane comes in to find Henry at the computer. He doesn’t look very happy.

HENRY:

I’m never doing this again!

JANE:

What, dear?

HENRY:

Writing a novel on the computer.

JANE:

Why? What’s wrong?

HENRY:

The bloody thing’s packed up on me!

JANE:

You’re joking! How’s that happened?

HENRY:

The hard drive must have crashed, or something.

JANE:

But you can’t have lost the whole novel!

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HENRY:

I don’t know. I may be able to retrieve it if I can get the computer up and running again.

JANE:

But you must have kept a back-up, surely?

HENRY:

If only!

Idioms

• bloody/`bld/ is an ADJECTIVE that we use in informal situations with NOUNS, or an ADVERB that we use with adjectives, to add emphasis when we are angry or frustrated. It’s a bit rude, but not very.

this bloody computer

bloody stupid

• up and runningmeans ‘functioning properly and without problems’

• If only!means ‘I wish what you just said was true, but it’s not!’

Language point 73 – ‘must have’

When Henry says in Dialogue 4:

The hard drive must have crashed

he uses must( not have to/ have got to) + have+ PAST PARTICIPLE to say what he thinks has happened . This might be a good time to look

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again at Language point 53 if you want to remind yourself about how to form the past participle.

More examples:

There’s milk on the floor – the cat must have knocked the bottle over

The front door is open – someone must have broken into the house!

My passport’s not in my bag – I must have left it at the post office

Gerry’s not at his desk – he must have gone home earlyBut when we want to say what we think hasn’t happened, we don’t use mustn’t have. Look what Jane says:

You can’t have lost the whole novel

not

‘You mustn’t have lost the whole novel’

She means ‘It isn’t possible that you’ve lost the whole novel’.

This fits with what we saw about must beand can’t bein Language point 72 – let’s remind ourselves:

+

It must be ten o’clock

= ‘I think that it’s ten o’clock’

–

It can’t be ten o’clock

= ‘I don’t think it’s ten o’clock’

+

He must have gone home= ‘I think that he’s gone home’

–

He can’t have gone home= ‘I don’t think that he’s gone home’

Exercise 5

Fill in the blanks using must haveor can’t have– the first one has been done for you.

1 The front door’s open – I must have leftit unlocked!

(leave)

2 Dom and Sarah are very late – the car _______

down.

(break)

3 This kettle doesn’t work – you ________ it up

properly.

(wire)

4 Candace _______ – there’s no message on the

answer machine.

(ring)

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5 The window’s smashed – someone _______ a brick

through it.

(throw)

6 Jane looks very happy – Henry ______ her the

good news.

(tell)

7 Fred’s looking guilty – he ________ his

homework.

(do)

8 The lights are off in that shop – they _________

early today.

(close)

9 Helen doesn’t look very well – she ________

a cold.

(catch)

10 The students all gave the wrong answer – they

______ the question.

(understand)

Dialogue 5

Dave’s showing off his latest acquisition to Paul.

DAVE:

How do you like my new home cinema system?

PAUL:

Very impressive. Is it easy to use?

DAVE:

Yes, it came with full instructions and it was dead easy to set up.

PAUL:

Was it expensive?

DAVE:

I’ll say! It was the most expensive one in the shop. But I arranged to pay for it over five years.

PAUL:

Are you glad you decided to buy it?

DAVE:

Yes, there’s just one problem to sort out.