Collins Cobuild English Grammar (120 page)

In the past simple, either
dare
or
dared
can be used.
Dare
is more formal than
dared
.

He
dare
not take his eyes off his assailant.
He
dared
not show he was pleased.

Need
is not inflected when it is used as a modal.

use with other modals

5.249
   Normally, modals cannot be used with other modals. However
dare
can be used with
will
,
would
,
should
, and
might
.

No one
will dare
override what the towns decide.
I
wouldn’t dare
go to there alone.

use with
do

5.250
   Unlike other modals,
dare
can be used with the auxiliary verb
do
.

We
do not dare
examine it.
Don’t
you ever
dare
come here again!

In ordinary speech,
did not dare
and
didn’t dare
are much more common than
dared not
or
dare not
.

She
did not dare
leave the path.
I
didn’t dare
speak or move.
We
didn’t dare
say that we would prefer to go home.

other uses of
dare
and
need

5.251
   Besides being used as modals,
dare
and
need
are used in other ways in which they are not followed by the base form of another verb. Both verbs can be followed by a
to
-infinitive clause, and
need
is a common transitive verb.

used to

5.252
   
Used to
cannot be used with other modals.

She
used to
get quite cross with Lily.
…these Westerns that
used to
do so well in Hollywood.
What did we
use to
call it?

However,
used to
can be used with the auxiliary verb
do
. This is explained in paragraphs
5.255
and
5.256
.

Used
is sometimes regarded as a modal, rather than
used to
.
Used
is then said to be followed by a
to
-infinitive.

5.253
   
Used to
is used to say that something happened regularly or existed in the past, although it no longer happens or exists.

Used to
is similar to
would
when it is used to describe repeated actions in the past. However, unlike
would
,
used to
can also describe past states and situations.

I’m not quite as mad as I
used to
be.
You
used to
bring me flowers all the time.

The use of
would
to talk about things that happened regularly in the past is dealt with in paragraph
5.112
.

omitting the following verb phrase

5.254
   
Used to
can be used on its own without a following verb phrase when it is clear from the context what the subject matter is.

People don’t work as hard as they
used to
.
I don’t feel British any more. Not as much as I
used to
.

negatives

5.255
   
Used to
is not common in negative structures.

In informal speech, people sometimes make negative statements by putting
didn’t
in front of
used to
. This is sometimes represented as
use to
.

They
didn’t use to
mind what we did.

However, many people consider this use to be incorrect.

Another way to form the negative is to put
never
in front of
used to
.

Where I was before, we
never used to
have posters on the walls.

Sometimes
not
is put between
used
and
to
. This is a fairly formal use.

It
used not to
be taxable.

Some grammar books give a contracted form for the negative,
usedn’t to
or
usen’t to
. This is now rarely used, and is thought to be very old-fashioned.

questions

5.256
   You normally form questions with
used to
by putting
did
in front of the subject, followed by
used to
or
use to
.
Wh
-questions are formed by putting the
wh
-word at the beginning, followed by
used to
.

Did she used
to be nice?
What used to
annoy you most about him?

You can form negative questions by putting
didn’t
in front of the subject, followed by the subject and
used to
or
use to
.

Didn’t
they
use to
mind?

In more formal English,
did
is put in front of the subject and
not
after it, followed by
used to
or
use to
.

Did
she
not use to
smile?

6 Expressing manner and place: other adverbials

Introduction

6.1
      When you are talking about an event or a situation, you sometimes want to say something about it that has not been indicated by the subject, verb, object, or complement. You do this by using an
adverbial
.

An adverbial is a word or group of words that you use when you want to say when an event or situation occurs, how it occurs, how much it occurs, or where it occurs.

I was
soon
lost.
She laughed
quietly
.
She was
tremendously
impressed.
He fumbled
in his pocket
.

adverb phrases

6.2
      The two main types of adverbial are
adverb phrases
and
prepositional phrases
.

He acted
very clumsily
.
I cannot speak
too highly
of their courage and skill.
He takes his job
very seriously indeed
.
He did not play
well enough
throughout the week to deserve to win.

However, adverbs very often occur on their own.

I shook her
gently
.
He
greatly
admired Cezanne.
He
scarcely
knew his aunt
The number will
probably
be higher than we expected.

For more information about adverbs, see the section beginning at paragraph
6.16
.

prepositional phrases

6.3
      Adverbials that consist of a preposition and a noun, such as
in a box
and
to the station
, are called
prepositional phrases
. These are dealt with in detail in the section beginning at paragraph
6.73
.

Large cushions lay
on the floor
.
The voice was coming
from my apartment
.

noun phrases

6.4
      Occasionally,
noun phrases
can also be used as adverbials.

He was looking really ill
this time yesterday
.
I’m going to handle this
my way
.

When noun phrases are used as adverbials, they most often relate to time. Time adverbials are dealt with in
Chapter 4
. Noun phrases that relate to place are dealt with at paragraph
6.72
; those that relate to manner are dealt with at paragraph
6.44
, and those that relate to degree at paragraph
6.52
.

For more information on noun phrases in general, see
Chapters 1
and
2
.

adding meaning to verb phrases

6.5
      The most common way in which adverb phrases give additional information is by adding something to the meaning of a verb phrase.

He nodded and smiled
warmly
.
The report says that hospitals and rescue services coped
extremely well
.
I could find that out
fairly easily
.

Prepositional phrases have a wider range of meanings.

It was estimated that at least 2,000 people were
on the two trains
.
Kenny Stuart came second, knocking two minutes
off his previous best time
.
For the first time since I’d been pregnant
I felt well.

Many
intransitive verbs
normally require an adverbial. See paragraph
3.10
for more information about these.

Ashton had behaved
abominably
.
She turned and rushed
out of the room
.

Some
transitive verbs
normally require an adverbial after the object of the verb. For more information about these, see paragraph
3.19
.

I put my hand
on the door
.

adding meaning to clauses

6.6
      Adverbials can also add meaning to a whole clause, for example by giving the writer’s or speaker’s comment on it. For more information, see the section on
sentence adverbials
beginning at paragraph
9.56
.

Obviously
crime is going to be squeezed in a variety of ways.
Fortunately
, the damage had been slight.
Ideally
the dairy should have a concrete or tiled floor.
No doubt
she loves Gertrude too.