Advanced English

In English, wish is a powerful word for expressing your dreams, hopes and desires. Here are some examples: We wish you the best. Her mother wishes they would get married. I wish I had brought my camera. I wish to speak to the president. You will often hear wish in music, movie dialog, poetry and inspirational speeches. Let’s take a look at some of the tricky grammar issues with wish . A wish is a desire for a different reality. In general, wishes express desires that are unlikely to happen. If you say, “I wish I could fly,” it means you probably will not grow wings and learn to fly. A Unique Verb W ish follows a unique -- and rather confusing -- set of grammar rules. Wish uses the same verb back shifting rule as reported speech. Verb back shifting   A wish about the present uses a simple past main verb. He wishes he understood the lesson. In this example, understood is a simple past verb. Wish is often followed by that . That introduces a noun

Today we will answer a question about two misunderstood modal verbs. Modal verbs are helping verbs. They help us express things like necessity, permission, ability and possibility. For example, “I can bring the bag tomorrow” uses the modal verb “can” to express ability. Now, here is our question: Question: Hi! Can you tell me the difference between “must” and “have to”? -  Manuel Answer: Hello, Manuel. Thanks for writing! The modal verbs “must” and “have to” are very close in meaning. They both express a requirement or need to do something. First, let me tell you what  grammar  books say about these verbs. Then, I will tell you how we  really  use them. Grammar books say that: “Must” expresses that  the speaker  has decided that something is a requirement or necessity. And “have to” expresses that  someone else  has made something a requirement or necessity. An example would be a rule or law. But, in the real world, we do not often separate the meanings thi

In the American television show Saturday Night Live, actors make jokes of realistic situations and people, like politicians and sports personalities. In one program, for example, sports reporters Pete and Greg discuss a women’s curling game between Finland and Paraguay. But it soon becomes clear that they do not understand the game. A player from Paraguay scores and the men say this: Pete: What an amazing curl – knocking team Finland right out of the house! Look at that – she is fired up. Bingo! Greg: Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I have no idea what is happening. Pete: Neither do I, buddy. The rules of this game are baffling to me. You just heard Pete say, “Neither do I” to show agreement with Greg’s statement. Pete is saying that he also has no idea what is happening. Very short responses like this are extremely common for English speakers around the world. We use them in speech and informal writing every day. In English, we can use the words so, neither, too and eithe