ESL Help Desk: English Grammar Podcasts

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Feedback, Please! Consider the following ideas: What would you like me to write about? What questions would like me to answer? Do you have any comments about the lesson you just listened to? Your Feedback Is Our Feed! Vocabulary for Today's Podcast certainty (to) work out (to) carry a meaning polite (to) pop the question a marriage proposal (to) get hitched polite	Would You Please...? Expressing Wish or Desire Today is Tuesday, January 16, 2007, and thanks for stopping by the ESL Help Desk, your home page for questions and comments about English grammar and writing. First time listeners may want to browse our Library for audio stories and grammar lessons. Everybody is welcome to visit earlier podcasts and subscribe to our feed. So to all of our listening audience today, welcome to www.ESLHelpDesk.com! Today we're going to discuss one way to express wish or desire by using the modal *would. Many times people email me, writing, "I will like to purchase this" when they really should be saying "I would like to purchase this". We are going to talk about the correct use of the modal would* in this situation. WHAT IS A MODAL? A modal is a helping verb. Using a modal before a verb changes the meaning of that verb in some way. *WHEN DO WE USE THE MODAL will?* Use the modal *will* when you are referring to the future, and you are indicating 100% CERTAINTY. Future: *will* (*will* *not, won't)* Past: would (not) have + Past Participle Future - Positive: The marriage will work out. Negative: The marriage will not (won't) work out. Past * - Positive: Their marriage would have worked* out. Negative: Their marriage would not have worked* out. (* See also Chap. 12 of the Grammar HELP! Handbook, to learn about 3rd Conditional.) WHEN DO WE USE THE MODAL would? The modal would is very common, and carries several different meanings. In this example, we use would because we use the modal would with polite requests. Would you please help me? APPLYING THIS TO A NEW SITUATION Now let's say you are ready to pop the question, that is, you are going to ask somebody to marry you. Do you say to the object of your desire, "I will like to marry you" or do you say, "I would like to marry you"? Write your response you think is correct in the box below. The winning marriage proposal would be, "I would like to marry you." Perhaps you are more romantic and you get down on one knee: do you ask, ""Will you marry me?" or do you ask, "Would you marry me?" Which do you think is preferable? Both statements could get you hitched, depending on how you want to sound. However, we think "Will you marry me?" sounds more certain on the requester's part. Remember that *will* indicates 100% certainty, and would indicates polite request. The next time you want to propose marriage, try them both and let us know which one works for you! Thanks for listening to us this week, and remember to email us your questions about English grammar. At the ESL Help Desk, your feedback is our feed.	Visit Our Library In our library you'll find: MP3 Audio Stories Communication Lessons How To's Grammar Lessons Listening Comprehension Grammar Lessons Essays Subscribe to Our Feed Looking for Grammar Software? www.softwareforstudents.com Looking for a Grammar Book? The Grammar HELP! Student Handbook Today's Date
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