188 MODALITY can C1 USE: PAST NEGATIVE, DEDUCTIONS ‘can’t’ or ‘cannot have’ + ‘-ed’ to make deductions.
Category: negatives
can’t (questions)
75 MODALITY can B1 negative question forms in main clauses and question tags. This is proving very hard to search for in corpora. They do not like negative modal variable-length queries with question marks at the end. The best we could find was to try ca_vm _x _p _vvi on iWeb: 1 CA N’T […]
cannot can’t (clashing levels)
There are at least 7 grammar points related to the negative form of ‘can’ in the category of MODALITY in the English Grammar Profile. Four of these cannot be differentiated by form alone automatically, so, therefore, will require manual interpretation. These are: Point 12 A1 can negative. Point 50 can A2: give and refuse […]
Don’t Haven’t ?
Point 17 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: auxiliary ‘do’ and ‘have’ + ‘n’t’ + subject + main verb to form negative ‘yes/no’ questions. This overlaps with point 18 in PAST: present perfect simple – negative question form. This is hard to catch for variable-length searches, but we can get some short checking […]
must not
The negative form of ‘must’ in the category of MODALITY appears at two levels. Point 21 is A2 and just general form. Point 149 is B2 and is defined: USE: RULES negative forms of ‘must’ to talk about what is not permitted. must _x _vvi 1 MUST NOT EXCEED 5621 2 MUST NOT USE 3904 […]
cannot be adjective
Point 137 in MODALITY is defined as: negative forms of ‘can’t’ and ‘cannot’ to guess, predict and deduce. This point is an extremely difficult point to locate because it heavily relies on usage. The use of ‘can’t’ is A1 by default, but not ‘cannot’ which has not been given a level in the EGP. We […]
need not
Point 126 in the category of MODALITY is: need NEGATIVE iWeb search for need _x _vvi* 1 NEED NOT WORRY 3770 2 NEED NOT APPLY 2083 Observer Prince William and Kate Could Be Your New Norfolk Neighbors All of the properties are offered unfurnished, and feline lovers need not apply, as there’s a strict […]
ought negative
There are three negative points in Modality that are quite rare. Point 215 is defined as: negative form ‘ought not to’ Point 226: CONTRACTED NEGATIVE ‘oughtn’t’ (without ‘to’) + verb Point 235 ‘ought’ + subject + ‘not to’ + verb to form (rhetorical) questions, often in formal contexts. *Point 35 in the category of QUESTIONS […]
dare (not) infinitive
Using the word ‘dare’ is b2-c2 and rare. The other strange thing is that some of the most common Ngrams (words found together) are C2 and less common seem to be B2 according to Cambridge research. For that reason, the complexity checking ability around this vocabulary item should be taken with caution. One thing is […]
will (not) have been verbING
There are three future perfect continuous points in the EGP that are all very rare. Point 54 is defined as LOOKING BACK FROM A POINT IN THE FUTURE and to emphasise the duration of an activity or event. Point 49 is AFFIRMATIVE with ‘will’. Point 42 is NEGATIVE Actually we have already covered the […]