Chapter 17: Exploring More Important Verb Structures 251
The problem is that in the negative they no longer mean the same things:The boss says you mustn’t stop (meaning don’t stop).
The boss says you don’t have to stop (meaning stop if you want to).From time to time though, there’s a choice or a weak obligation. In that case
you can use should or ought to: You should go on a diet. In fact you ought to
cut out sugar completely.You use the same words for giving advice.Using ‘would’
Would is generally used to show that a situation is imaginary or hypothetical
rather than a present fact: ‘I would sit down but there are no more seats’.And would is used as the past of will too. So when you report what someone
else said about the future, you can use would:Bob: I’ll go to the post office for you.John: What did Bob say?
Gary: Bob said that he would go to the post office for you. He’s gone now.You can even use would for reminiscing about past habits: ‘As teenagers we
would regularly skip school’.Sorting Out Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs are quite informal expressions that include a verb and at least
one preposition.The meaning isn’t always obvious, which is one reason students struggle with
them. For example ‘pick up’ is not too obscure if you understand the individ-
ual verb ‘pick’ and the preposition ‘up’ but ‘keep up’ is much harder to guess.
Here are a few more examples of phrasal verbs:✓ ask someone out*
✓ back someone up*
✓ call something off*
✓ drop out
✓ end up
✓ fall out