Beginner Levels - Lesson 17 - Practical English Drama

B2 Grammar: Causative have and other ways of expressing obligation and permission

Causative have

·     We use this structure have + something + done / made / cleaned when we ask someone else to do something for us: We’re having the house painted (i.e. the decorators are painting our house for us). I’ve just had my watch repaired (i.e. a watchmaker has just repaired my watch)..

·      Usually it’s not necessary to say who did it for us, but it is possible: I’ve just had my hair cut by my brother-in-law (i.e. my brother-in-law has just cut my hair for me).

·     Have something done can be used in any tense of form: I’m thinking of having my hair dyed green. Maggie’s going to have her shoulder tattooed.

Expressing obligation and permission

Obligation – must and have to

• Only use must in the present tense. For other tenses use have to: I’d like to go camping with you, but I’ll have to ask my parents first. In order to escape from the guards they had to swim across a river.
• Use must when the obligation is something you agree with. Teacher to students: You must hand in your homework on Monday.
• Use have to when the obligation comes from someone else: My teacher has given me a lot of homework which I have to do for Monday.
• Use must for strong advice: You must be careful if you stay out late at night.
• Use be supposed to to talk about an obligation which may be different from what really happens: We’re supposed to do five writing tasks each term (but most people only do two or three). Aren’t you supposed to be in class (not out here playing football)?
• Use should to talk about the right thing to do, but which is different from what really happens: I should do the housework instead of watching television in the middle of the afternoon. He should write his own answers instead of copying them from the internet.
• The past of should is should have: You shouldn’t have shouted at your father like that!

Prohibition

• Use these modal verbs and phrases to express prohibition: can’t, mustn’t, not let, am not allowed to, don’t allow (me) to.

You can’t go in there – it says “No entry!”

You musn’t speak during the exam – it’s forbidden.

My sister won’t let me listen to her CDs.

I’m not allowed to use the kitchen in my host family’s house.

My parents didn’t allow me to play computer games when I was small.

• Do not use don’t have to to express prohibition: You mustn’t use your mobile phone in class (it’s not allowed). Compare this with: You don’t have to use your mobile phone to speak to Fayed. Look! He’s over there (i.e. it’s not necessary).
• To talk about the past use: couldn’t, didn’t let, wasn’t allowed to, didn’t allow (me) to. I couldn’t leave the room until the end of the meeting. She wasn’t allowed to invite her boyfriend to the party.
• Do not use mustn’t to talk about the past. We mustn’t couldn’t use our dictionary in the exam last week.

Permission

• To express permission use: can (past could), let, am allowed to and may (past was/were allowed to). You can only smoke in open spaces, not inside buildings. Are we allowed to use the phone in the office for private calls? She let him borrow her bicycle to get to the station.
• Only use may in formal situations: It’s not necessary to stay until the end of the examination. When you have answered all the questions, you may leave the room.

No obligation

• To say that there is no obligation, or it’s not necessary use: don’t have to, don’t need to and needn’t: This is a really good exercise on phrasal verbs for anyone who’s interested, but it’s not for homework, so you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. You needn’t learn all the vocabulary on this page – only the words you think are useful.
• I didn’t need to means it wasn’t necessary and I didn’t do it: I needn’t have means it wasn’t necessary but I did it: I didn’t need to buy a newspaper to find out the story because I’d already heard it on the radio. What lovely roses! You needn’t have bought me so many, but it was very generous of you.

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B2 Grammar: All about the passive

The passive

Form

The passive is formed by the verb to be + done / eaten / cleaned, etc.

Active They ate all the food very quickly. We’ve sold the car. It’s nice when people invite me to dinner. On a clear day you can see Ibiza from the mainland.

Passive All the food was eaten very quickly.. The car has been sold. It’s nice when I’m invited to dinner. On a clear day Ibiza can be seen from the mainland.

Uses

The passive is used when:

• The speaker doesn’t know who or what does/did something: My car has been stolen!
• The speaker doesn’t need to say who or what does/did something because it’s obvious from the situation or context: The law was passed earlier this year (obviously by parliament).
• What happens is more important than who does it: The car has been repaired so we can go away this weekend.
• When writing in a formal style: Your ticket has been booked and can be collected from our office.

The passive with get

• You can use get instead of be to form the passive, especially when you want to say that something happened to someone or something: He got hurt playing football yesterday (He was hurt). I’m afraid we were playing football and one of your windows got broken (one of your windows was broken).
• Only use get when something happens or changes: He got arrested by the police. It is not possible with state verbs (see page 169): The car got owned by a film star. The car was owned by a film star.
• Get is used mainly in informal spoken English.

The passive with reporting verbs

The passive is often used to report what people say, think, etc. especially when we don’t know who said it or thought it, or it’s not important: The Queen is thought to be suffering from a heavy cold. Fernando Alonso is considered to be the best Spanish Formula One driver of all time.

This use of the passive in common in news reports.

We use three possible forms.

• He/She is said, thought, considered, etc. + infinitive: Lions are known to hunt in this area. Elena is thought to be highly intelligent.

Verbs that can be used with this pattern are: considerer, discover, expect, feel, know, say, suppose, think, understand.

To talk about the past we can use: She is said to have played / eaten / been, etc.: The Prime Minister is understood to have spoken to the rebels on the phone.

• It is said, thought, considered, etc. + that + a sentence: It is thought that Elena is highly intelligent. It is known that lions hunt in this area.

Verbs that can be used with this pattern are: agree, announce, consider, decide, discover, expect, feel, find, know, mention, propose, recommend, say, suggest, suppose, think, understand.

• It is agreed, planned, etc. + infinitive: It has been agreed to change the dates of the meeting.

Verbs that can be used with this pattern are: agree, decide, forbid, hope, plan, propose.

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B2 Grammar: Linking words and phrases

Linking words and phrases: when, if, in case, even if and even though

Use when to talk about:

• a situation: I feel very uncomfortable when the weather is so hot.
• something you know will happen at some point in time: I’m writing an essay at the moment. When I finish, I’ll phone you back.

Use if to describe:

• something you are not sure will happen: We’ll miss the beginning of the film if the bus is late.

Compare:

• If I get a place at university, my parents will buy me a new car (I’m not sure if I’ll get a place at university).
• when I get a place at university, my parents will buy me a new car (I’m confident I’ll get a place at university).

Use in case:

• with de present tense to talk about something which might happen in the future: I’ll take a book to read in case I have to wait a long time for the train. Take a bottle of water with you in case you get thirsty.
• with the past simple to explain why someone did something: Clara turned off her mobile phone in case it rang during the exam (she thought it might ring during the exam, so she turned it off).

In case and if are different. Compare:

• I’ll take my swimming costume in case we go t o the beach (I’ll take it now because we might go to the beach later).
• I’ll take my swimming costume if we go to the beach (I won’t take my swimming costume now, because I don’t know if we will go to t he beach – we might not go to the beach).

Use even though as a stronger way of saying although when we are certain about something:

• He bought a new computer even though his old one was working perfectly (the speaker is certain the old one was working perfectly).
• I’m really looking forward to my holiday even though the weather forecast is for rain (the speaker knows the weather forecast is for rain).

Use even if as a stronger way of saying if, when you are not certain about something:

• I’m going to have a holiday in the USA this summer even if I fail all my exams (I’m not sure if I’m going to fail my exams – but I’m going to have the holiday anyway).
• I’ll come to your party even if I have to walk there (I don’t know if I’ll have to walk there, but I’ll make sure I come to your party).