business_spotlight_2014_no_02__

bin[bIn] Tonne

cool it[(ku:l It] ifml. etwa: immer mit der Ruhe

display rack [dI(spleI )rÄk] Präsentations ständer

freshen up[)freS&n (Vp] sich frisch machen

There’s no time to lose: Roy, Meg and Jamie are setting up their compa-

ny’s stand at a trade fair.

Roy: We need to hurry up, guys. Doors open in half an hour.

Meg: Oh, no! Is it really that late? I needa few minutes to freshen up

before people arrive.

Jamie:Well, you’d betterget a move on then, Meg. Here, take these. They

go on the display racks.

Meg: The racks need cleaning. They’re really dusty.

Jamie:Come on, Meg! You were supposed toclean them an hour ago.

Meg: You needn’tshout at me, Jamie. And anyway, why do I have todo

everything? You think you can...

Roy: Cool it, you two. We really musthurry up now. Meg, you go and

freshen up. I’ll take care of the display racks. Jamie, go and find

a recycling bin. These empty boxes need to be removed before we

open. We shouldhire some help next time. It was a bad idea to

think we could do everything ourselves.

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Explanations

1.To say that an action is necessary or

that something is required, you can use

need. The dialogue above shows five

different uses of this verb. It can be fol-

lowed by an infinitive with “to” or by a

direct object:

■We need to hurry up.

■I needa few minutes.

To say that it is necessary to do some-

thing, but without saying who should do

it, you can use needfollowed by an

“-ing” form or a passive infinitive:

■The racks need cleaning.

■These boxes need to be removed.

You can also use needwithout “to” in

negative statements and in questions:

■You needn’tshout at me.

This means: “You don’t need to shout

at me.”

2.Necessity or obligation can also be

expressed with have to:

■Why do I have todo everything?

To say that something is necessary be-

cause the speaker thinks so, British

English speakers often use must:

■We really musthurry up now.

Remember: the negation of “must” is

“don’t have to”, not “mustn’t”!

3.If you want to say that something is

necessary or the right thing to do, you

GRAMMAR AT WORK LANGUAGE

Anna Hochsiederis a Munich-based

teacher of English who writes regu-

larly in Business Spotlight. Contact:

[email protected]

You’ll find a related exercise on

Business Spotlight Audio

Do more exercises on this topic in

Business Spotlight plus

More exercises can be found at

http://www.business-spotlight.de/grammar

plus

www

can also use shouldand, more infor-

mally, had better. Both are followed by

an infinitive:

■We shouldhire some help next time.

■You’d better get a move on.

To be supposed to do somethinghas a

similar meaning. Unlike shouldand

had better, it can be used to talk about

the past, too:

■You were supposed toclean them an

hour ago.

Es gibt Dinge, die man unbedingt tun muss, und solche, die man vielleicht tun sollte. Wie

man das zum Ausdruck bringt, erläutert ANNAHOCHSIEDERanhand von Beispielen.

Talking about necessity

medium

Exercise

Choose the correct options to complete

the sentences.

a) We need / shouldto discuss this.

b) This lamp needs to fix / fixing.

c) He should / was supposed todo it

yesterday.

d) We needn’t hurry / to hurry.

e) You mustn’t / don’t have toif you

don’t want to.

Answers on page 64

■BS

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