【大紀元2011年05月28日訊】在英語中常用情態動詞有will， would， shall， should， may， might， must， can以及 could總計9個；同樣，英語中還有很多被稱之為「半情態動詞」的動詞詞組，例如：ought to，have to，had better等等。雖然數量不多，但是學起來總是會覺得不得要領，原因是這些情態動詞每個都有很多的含義和用法。下面我們來談談情態動詞在日常交流中的應用。
很多同學都知道，有時候一個情態動詞的過去式卻是另外一個情態動詞的原型。比如：will的過去式是would；can的過去式是could。而在現代英語中人們常常把must的過去式用作had to。儘管大多數同學都知道這些情態動詞的變形和寫法，但是卻不明白這些情態動詞到底意思上有什麼差別。其實，在現實生活中人們喜歡用過去式來表示友好的語氣，這也是英語中常用的表達形式。比如以下兩個例句中例句一聽起來比例句二要友好很多。
例一： Could I borrow your pen？
例二：Can I borrow your pen？
其實這些情態動詞中給人感覺最友好的是「May」，這就是為什麼你每次去商場或者是餐廳服務員總是用「May I help you？」來和您打招呼了。就像這些例子說明的一樣，通常說話的人在某種場合中希望表達友好的感情會用這些情態動詞。但是，如果你想和朋友借一支筆，你用「May I borrow your pen？」聽起來就有點太誇張了。因為「May」通常被用於表示對對話者的禮貌和尊重。
在對話中如果用錯了情態動詞或者半情態動詞會讓對方覺得說話的人說話太誇張甚至有時候會覺得粗魯。比如：「had better」這個半情態動詞，意思與「should」及其相似，但是細細推敲來說還是存在著一些微妙的差異的。「should」在某種程度上來說具有給出建議的趨勢，而「had better」雖然也有給出建議的趨勢，但是這個詞更嚴重一些，如果別人沒有按照這個建議去做某個事情將會有很壞的結果產生，也就是說除了這個建議沒有更好的了。如果你用「had better」和別人提出建議，某種程度上來說你是在和別人提出警告。
記得有一次我去我經常光顧的汽車修理舖修車，修車的師傅是個中國人，當我和他說我的車停放的位置的時候他就用了「had better」這個詞來建議我把車停在別的地方，他說：「You had better park over there」。聽起來我好像犯了很大的錯誤，但是很快我意識到他僅僅是用錯了情態動詞。如果這個事情發生在別人身上可能會被誤會為說話的人比較粗魯，會給別人留下不好的印象。作為母語為英文的人來理解，如果我不把車按照他的意思來停放，會給我帶來意想不到的後果，也許是一張警察的罰單或者某人會因此憤怒。這樣的建議聽起來更像是命令。這句話更好的表達方式應該為「Could you park behind the garage?」，當然少不了後面再適當的解釋說明一下原因，避免客戶誤會。當然，如果你想對你的客戶更禮貌一些的話你可以說「If you don』t mind, perhaps you could park behind the garage.」。
了解了以上的一些細微差異，那麼到底什麼時候用「had better」呢？如果主語是「I」或者「we」的時候通常用「had better」比較多。比如例句三和例句四聽起來還是比較舒服的。
例三：I had better hurry.」 (意思為：我快要遲到了)
例四：We had better hurry.」 (意思為：我們快要遲到了)
再來看看例句五，如果用這種方式和不熟悉的人交談，聽起來語氣就有點強硬了。
例五：You had better hurry。（意思為：你會遲到的）
也許你說完這句話的同時對方在想：「我遲不遲到和你有什麼關係！」。
邁克（Mike Tiittanen）是應用語言學博士，從1993年開始致力於成人「英語第二語言」
（ESL）的教學工作，同時他還兼任多倫多Seneca社區學院針對教師的培訓項目（TESL）的講師，是一位資深的英語語言專家。曾經著有兩本關於英語教學的書籍並被採納為「英語第二語言」教學的標準教材。更多英語學習資料請訪問：http://doctormikeenglishcenter.wordpress.com/
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The possible social implications of some modal verbs
Many ESL learners find English modal verbs difficult to learn. First of all, I should list the modal verbs of English. The pure modal verbs are the following:
will, would, shall, should, may, might, must, can, and could. Given that there are so few modal verbs, why are they so difficult for adult ESL learners to learn? The reason is that these verbs have several different meanings. In addition, there are also semi-modal verbs in English (e.g. – ought to, have to, had better etc …) with different meanings as well.
As many English learners know, one difference between some modal verbs is that one modal verb is the present tense form and another modal verb is the past tense form of the same verb. For example, the past tense of “will” is “would”. In addition, the past tense of “can” is “could”. The only other modal verb with a past tense form (in contemporary English) is “must”. The past tense of “must” is “had to”.
Although the above differences between modal verbs are known by many English learners, many learners do not know about the many other differences in meaning between modal verbs. Some of these differences are relevant to sounding more polite.
In English, sometimes people use a past tense form in order to sound more polite. So, example 1 below is a little more polite than example 2.
example 1: “Could I borrow your pen?”
example 2: “Can I borrow your pen?”
However, the most polite modal verb is “may”. That is why the typical opening question that customers in a store get is “May I help you?” As these examples illustrate the modal verb used by a speaker has some social relevance. It would usually sound too polite to ask a friend the following question, “May I borrow your pen?”, since “may” is often used to indicate polite deference to one’s interlocutor.
If an English learner chooses the wrong modal verb or semi-modal verb, he/she may unintentionally sound overly polite or perhaps even a little rude to an English speaker. For example, “had better” is a semi-modal verb, which is similar in meaning to “should”. However, there are differences in meaning between “had better” and “should”, which may be subtle to an English learner. One meaning of “should” is that of giving advice. “Had better” has a similar function, but the implication of this semi-modal verb is that if one doesn’t follow the advice, something bad will happen. So, if you say “You had better …” to an English speaker, it may sound like a warning.
I have encountered exactly this situation in my own personal life. I usually go to a Chinese mechanic, who I speak English with when I am giving him my business. One day after arriving at his garage and telling him where I had parked my car, he proceeded to say “You had better park over there.” This use of “had better” sounded very strange to me as a native speaker of English. I immediately assumed that he was making an English mistake rather than trying to be rude, but it occurred to me that some other English speakers might perhaps have found his suggestion a bit rude. This is because “You had better park over there.” implies that if you don’t park over there, you may suffer a negative consequence. A negative consequence might be something like ‘you’ll get a parking ticket’ or ‘I’ll be angry because I don’t like it when customers park there’. In any case, it sounded too much like an order. It would have been better for him to have said something like “Could you park behind the garage?” and then to have explained the reason. Alternatively, he could have said something such as “If you don’t mind, perhaps you could park behind the garage” and then to have explained the reason. Such suggestions would have been much more polite because they would have softened his statement. Instead of sounding like an order, he instead would more clearly have been making a polite request.
Because of the above-mentioned social implications of “had better”, English speakers often only use it with “I” and “we”. For example, examples 3 and 4 sound perfectly socially acceptable.
example 3 – “I had better hurry.” (implication – ‘or I’ll be late’)
example 4 – “We had better hurry.” (implication – ‘or we’ll be late’)
However, example 5 may sound a little bit too strong if I’m talking to somebody who I don’t know very well or who you just to be polite with.
example 5 – “You had better hurry.” (implication – ‘or you’ll be late’)
In example 5, the person you are talking to may think “It’s none of your business if I’m late or not.”
For more information about problems that Chinese learners of English face, please visit my blog at https://doctormikeenglishcenter.wordpress.com/.
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