Topical issues of English grammar: Forms Expressing Unreality in Modern English

TOPICAL ISSUES 
OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

FORMS EXPRESSING UNREALITY 
IN MODERN ENGLISH

Ю.Г. РОМАНОВА
О.В. КОРОБЕЙНИКОВА

Москва
ИНФРА-М
2023

УЧЕБНОЕ ПОСОБИЕ

УДК 811.111(075.8)
ББК 81.2Англ.я73
 
Р69

Романова Ю.Г.

Р69 
 
Topical Issues of English Grammar: Forms Expressing Unreality 

in Modern English : учебное пособие / Ю.Г. Романова, О.В. Коро-
бейникова. — Москва : ИНФРА-М, 2023. — 119 с. — (Высшее образование). 


ISBN 978-5-16-017524-9 (print)
ISBN 978-5-16-110044-8 (online)

Правильное употребление форм, выражающих нереальность, и модаль-

ных глаголов представляет значительные трудности для изучающих английский 
язык. Основная цель настоящего пособия — привести в систему 
имеющиеся знания и развить умение правильно употреблять и переводить 
предложения, содержащие формы, выражающие нереальность, модальные 
глаголы и их эквиваленты.

Учебное пособие включает теоретическую часть и коммуникативные 

упражнения, направленные на активизацию грамматического материала 
в речи.

Предназначено для студентов вузов, обучающихся по неязыковым на-

правлениям подготовки и специальностям, а также для всех желающих 
пополнить и систематизировать свои знания в области грамматики английского 
языка.

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2Англ.я73

Р е ц е н з е н т ы:

Тимошенко А.И., доктор экономических наук, профессор, про-

фессор кафедры технологий, предпринимательства и методик их преподавания 
Педагогического института Иркутского государственного 
университета;

Шуйская Ю.В., доктор филологических наук, доцент, декан фа-

культета журналистики Московского университета имени А.С. Грибоедова;


Баваева О.К., кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры 

перевода, переводоведения и межкультурных коммуникаций Московского 
университета имени А.С. Грибоедова

ISBN 978-5-16-017524-9 (print)
ISBN 978-5-16-110044-8 (online)

© Романова Ю.Г.,

Коробейникова О.В., 2023

Contents

Предисловие...........................................................................................................6

Part 1 

GENERAL CHARACTERIZATION AND PROBLEMS  

OF FORMS EXPRESSING UNREALITY

ACTIONS REPRESENTED AS UNREAL IN MODERN ENGLISH ................................8

 
Forms Expressing Unreality in Old and Modern English .............................................................. 8

 
The Ways to Express the Speaker’s Point of View on the Action .............................................. 9

 
The Main Group of Forms Expressing Unreality ............................................................................10

 
General Classification of Forms Expressing Unreality ..................................................................12

 
Factors Determining the Choice of Forms Expressing Unreality .............................................15

Part 2 

STRUCTURALLY DEPENDENT USE OF FORMS  

EXPRESSING UNREALITY

MOOD AS ONE OF THE FORMS EXPRESSING UNREALITY .................................18

 
Meaning and Classification of Mood Forms ....................................................................................18

 
Subjunctive Mood .....................................................................................................................................21

 
Tense and Aspect Distinctions of Forms Expressing Unreality ................................................22

 
Conditional Mood and Its Usage .........................................................................................................23

MODAL MEANS AS FORMS EXPRESSING UNREALITY ........................................26

 
Modal Words ................................................................................................................................................26

 
Modal Verbs .................................................................................................................................................27

WAYS TO USE FORMS EXPRESSING UNREALITY ................................................30

 
Free Use .........................................................................................................................................................30

 
Traditional Use ............................................................................................................................................32

 
Forms of Unreality in Subordinate Clauses ......................................................................................33

 
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................42

Contents

Part 3 

GENERAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MODAL VERBS

MODAL VERBS .......................................................................................................44

 
Can ...................................................................................................................................................................47

 
May ..................................................................................................................................................................51

 
Must .................................................................................................................................................................54

 
Ought to .........................................................................................................................................................57

 
Shall .................................................................................................................................................................58

 
Will ...................................................................................................................................................................61

 
Need .................................................................................................................................................................63

 
Dare .................................................................................................................................................................65

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE WAYS TO USE DIFFERENT  
MODAL VERBS, THEIR FORMS, AND EQUIVALENTS ...........................................66

 
Can, could and be able to.........................................................................................................................66

 
The Difference between could and was able to..............................................................................66

 
Could do and could have done ...............................................................................................................67

 
Must and have to ........................................................................................................................................69

 
Must (have) and can’t (have) ...................................................................................................................70

 
Must, mustn’t, needn’t, and needn’t have ...........................................................................................72

 
May (have) and might (have) ..................................................................................................................73

 
Can, could, may, and would: requests, permission, offers and invitations ...........................74

COMPREHENSIVE EXERCISES 
(FOR THE INDIVIDUAL STUDENT’S WORK) .........................................................77

 
Grammar Exercises ....................................................................................................................................77

 
Sentences for Translation .......................................................................................................................94

 
Test Your Grammar (the Final Tests) ..................................................................................................98

APPENDICES

Appendix 1. The Use of Forms Expressing Unreality in Different  
Types of Subordinate Clauses ....................................................................................................104

Contents

Appendix 2. Table of Sentence Patterns with Modal Verbs  
and Their Equivalents ....................................................................................................................107

Appendix 3. Irregular Verbs ..........................................................................................................112

Bibliography ..........................................................................................................116

Предисловие

Настоящее учебное пособие состоит из трех частей (Part), 

в которых рассматриваются теоретические аспекты употребления 
форм, выражающих нереальность, и модальных глаголов 
с большим количеством иллюстрирующих примеров, 
дается классификация форм, выражающих нереальность, 
приводятся общая характеристика и сравнительный анализ 
модальных глаголов и их эквивалентов. Ввиду особой сложности 
материала о характеристиках форм, выражающих нереальность, 
и об их употреблении в конце второй части пособия 
дается обобщающий раздел, содержащий выводы по представленной 
теме.

В заключительную часть включены обзорные грамматиче-

ские упражнения, направленные на закрепление полученных 
знаний по теме «Модальные глаголы» для индивидуальной 
самостоятельной работы студентов. Для итогового контроля 
знаний студентов в рамках пройденного грамматического материала 
сюда также включены два теста, оценивающихся 
по балльной системе.

Настоящее пособие снабжено приложениями, включа-

ющими: сводную таблицу употребления форм, выражающих 
нереальность, в различных типах придаточных предложений 
(Appendix 1), сводную таблицу модальных глаголов и их эквивалентов (
Appendix 2) и таблицу неправильных глаголов 
(Appendix 3).

Изложение теоретической и практической частей пособия 

позволяет использовать его как при самостоятельном изучении 
данной темы, так и в ходе аудиторных занятий в вузе.

Part 1 

GENERAL 

CHARACTERIZATION 

AND PROBLEMS OF FORMS 

EXPRESSING UNREALITY

ACTIONS REPRESENTED AS UNREAL 

IN MODERN ENGLISH

FORMS EXPRESSING UNREALITY IN OLD 

AND MODERN ENGLISH

Traditionally forms expressing unreality are subdivided into 

several groups.

The number of moods in English is one of the still unsettled 

problems. Many authors of English scientific grammars subdivided 
moods into two groups: the first one represents the action as real, 
for example the Indicative, and the second one represents nonreal 
actions (merely the Conditional and the Subjunctive).

First, we would like to give a common definition of forms 

expressing unreality.

1. Mood is the form of the verb which shows the relation be-

tween the action expressed by the predicate verb and the  rea lity.

2. Modal verbs are considered to be defective as they do not 

possess some features characteristic of regular verbs. Modal verbs 
evaluate the plausibility of the action or state, i.e. its probability, 
improbability, possibility, impossibility, and certainty, thus 
expressing the speaker’s attitude towards it.

3. Modal words serve to express the relation between the 

statement made in the sentence and reality established by 
the speaker.

Thus, Modern English has various forms to describe an 

action as an unreal one. One of them is the Conditional Mood. 
The abundance of ways to express unreal actions is stipulated 
by the historical development of the language.

Having been a synthetic language in the older periods, the 

English language had special forms to express unreality of actions, 
so called Subjunctive Mood. These forms used to be synthetic ones, 

The Ways to Express the Speaker’s Point of View on the Action

that is, they were formed with the help of inflections. In the course 
of time, with the development of the language, the inflections 
disappeared. As a result, the difference between the forms of the 
Indicative Mood and the Subjunctive Mood has been blurred 
in most cases. So, the old forms of the Subjunctive Mood were 
replaced by analytical forms and modal phrases, i.e. combinations 
of modal verbs with the Infinitive. Thus, the abundance of forms 
to express unreality in the Modern English is defined by the 
historical development of the language. 

THE WAYS TO EXPRESS THE SPEAKER’S POINT 

OF VIEW ON THE ACTION

The speaker may wish to represent an action as a real fact, 

as a command (a request) or as something unreal, something 
that does not exist in reality. For example, the Indicative Mood 
expresses actions represented as real facts.

When the students had gone home, Mr. Waterall announced 

that they were a much pleasanter pair of young men than he had 
been led to believe.

The Imperative Mood expresses command and requests. Study 

the following examples:

Don’t go over there.
Do listen to him. 
Let him go there at once.

As has been mentioned before, unreal actions are expressed 

by a great variety of forms. With respect to moods, we can use 
the Subjunctive and the Conditional to express something unreal. 
See the examples:

I wish she had understood me yesterday.
If you came today, I should give you my car. 

Actions Represented as Unreal in Modern English

The speaker may evaluate the action in terms of its plausibility 

in different ways:

1) firstly, one of the mood forms might express the reality 

or unreality of the action from the point of view of the speaker. 
The speaker’s attitude towards the actions expressed we encounter 
in every sentence. It is indispensable to any predicate. Compare 
the following sentences:

He wakes up around six o’clock and has a cup of coffee.
If I had money, I might lend you some, but I don’t.
I wish you had bought that car yesterday.

2) As it has been mentioned before, actions might be de-

scribed regarding their necessity or absence of necessity, pos-
sibility or impossibility, certainty, etc. To express the variety 
of all these ideas, we have modal verbs. At the same time 
modal verbs are nothing but additional means of expressing 
the speaker’s attitude towards the action in the sentence. See 
the examples:

You might have let me know about it before hand.
I wish you had let me know about it before hand.

3) the speaker’s attitude towards the action in the sentence 

can be expressed lexically, i.e. with the help of modal words such as 
certainly, perhaps, probably, luckily, unfortunately, etc. We can see 
that the modal words express certainty (uncertainty, desirability) 
of the action in the speaker’s view point.

THE MAIN GROUP OF FORMS  

EXPRESSING UNREALITY

Historical processes in the language resulted in the following 

forms expressing unreality in present-day English:

The Main Group of Forms Expressing Unreality 

1) Bare Infinitive of the verb for all persons, 

e.g. They insisted that he be present at their wedding party.
 
They proposed that he stay in their place for the time of his 
study.

2) were for all persons, 

e.g. I wish my son were nearby now.

3) the Past Indefinite to express unreality,

e.g. He looked as if he understood it.

4) the form of the Past Perfect,

e.g. She looked as if she had seen a ghost.

5) should after if, this makes the possibility of an event seem 

unlikely,

e.g. If you should see Tom, could you ask him to help me. 

6) would (for all persons) + Infinitive,

e.g. I wish he wouldn’t be so rude to me.

7) may + Infinitive,

e.g. I’m telling you this so that you may ask your teacher 

about it. She opened the door so that she might let them 
out. 

8) can (could) + Infinitive,

e.g. I’m telling you this so that you can write to your parents 

about it.

 
I told you about that problem so that you could discuss 
it with the boss.

Actions Represented as Unreal in Modern English

9) were (for all persons) + Infinitive,

e.g. If he were to discover the truth, he would never speak 

to us again.

These forms denoting unreality might be grouped according 

to their meaning:

a) hypothetical ones, i.e. the speaker doubts whether the event 

will happen or not,

e.g. They suggested that Nick should stay with them for another 

fortnight.

 
Most of them insisted that the contract be signed without 
delay.

b) the forms describing actions which cannot be realized,

e.g. I wish I hadn’t eaten so much.
 
If I were a writer, I would write science-fiction stories. 

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF FORMS 

EXPRESSING UNREALITY

The above-described forms expressing unreality in modern 

English can be classified in the following way.

1. Hypothetical situation or event
a) in present or future: should + Infinitive, 

e.g. I should be glad to see him (if I had a chance).

b) in past: should/would + Perfect Infinitive,

e.g. I should have been glad to see him (if I had had a chance).

The use of “should be glad” in (a) is opposed to the Indicative 

Mood in “I’m glad to see him” or “I’ll be glad to see him”. The use 

General Classification of Forms Expressing Unreality

of “should have been glad” in (b) is opposed to the Indicative 
Mood in “I was glad to see him”. Similarly, “He would go there 
with pleasure (if it were possible)” is opposed to “He would have 
gone there with pleasure. He would have gone there with pleasure” 
to “He went there with pleasure”.

Actually, these forms are the Conditionals. These forms express 

unreal events stipulated by unreal conditions. As conditions are 
unreal, events or situations cannot come true.

e.g. If he were not so tired, he would come.
 
If he had been in the town, he would have come.

2. It is interesting to know that the pattern of Conditional 

consisting of a Bare Infinitive for all persons is an old form of the 
Subjunctive Mood that have survived in the Modern English,

e.g. He proposed that the project be accepted. It is important 

that you do it in his presence.

As we can see, there is no definite time reference. This form 

traditionally is defined as the Subjunctive Mood.

The patterns with “were” for all persons convey an idea of 

a hypothetical, unreal event or situation referred to the present 
or the future.

e.g. If I were you, I would not invite him to the party.
 
I wish I were rich.

Nowadays, it is interchangeable with “was” in some cases.
3. As there is no longer formal difference between the Indi-

cative Mood and the Subjunctive Mood, unreal events can be 
expressed with the help of the Past Indefinite (a) and the Past 
Perfect (b):

a) the Past Indefinite form has future or present time refe-

rence in hypothetical clauses. As we can see in the examples: