02 Vocabulary

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  • antiquity – the ancient past, especially the period of classical and other human civilisations before the Middle Ages
  • Lt. = Lieutenant (pronunciation = left-tenant (British) / loo-tenant (US)) – a rank of officer in the British army, above second lieutenant and below captain
  • tricky – of a task or problem etc requiring care and skill because difficult or awkward
  • lad – a boy or young man
  • latter – occurring or situated nearer to the end of something that to the beginning / denoting the second or second mentioned of two things
  • to pinpoint – find or identify with great accuracy or precision
  • to be skeptical – to not be easily convinced : having doubts or reservations
  • operating theatre – a room in a hospital in which surgical operations are performed
  • glimpse – a momentary or partial view
  • anaesthesiologist – a doctor who deal with anaesthetics : making sure people are put to sleep before and during operations
  • tremor – an involuntary quivering movement
  • printing press – a machine for printing text or pictures from type or plates
  • hearsay – something you have heard from other people : word of mouth
  • at your fingertips – to be readily available : accessible
  • to flip through something – to look through (a book, magazine etc) quickly

01 Grammar

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MODAL VERBS + PERFECT INFINITIVE (PI)

Modal Verbs + PI are often used:

  • to refer to the past
  • to refer to unreal situations
  • to show that the activity was different from what we wanted – to say how confident we are that something has happened
  1. MUST + PI: expresses deduction, a logical conclusion, probability:
  • It is very cold; it must have snowed in the mountains
  • I saw him leaving; he must have killed him. X He had to kill him.

 

  1. CAN ́T/COULDN ́T + PI: expresses negative deduction:
  • She can ́t have passed such a difficult exam.
    CAN + PI: expresses impossibility or disbelief:
  • The boy couldn ́t have given a better answer than this one. X He couldn ́t give…, X He wasn ́t able to give…
  • She can ́t have missed the bus.
  1. COULD + PI:
  • You could have done it. (past reference: didn ́t do it) X You could do it. (future reference: possibility)
  1. MAY + PI: expresses the possibility that an action took place in the past:
  • The little girl may have lost the key. (It is possible that she lost the key.)

(with may – action is more probable than with might)

  1. MIGHT + PI: expresses a past possibility

– Our neighbours might have heard some noises when our car was stolen.

    MIGHT + PI continuous: expresses a possible action which was continuing at a certain moment in the past:
  • The kids might have been watching a cartoon at that time.
    NEEDN ́T + PI: expresses an unnecessary action, which was, nevertheless, performed:
  • I needn ́t have knocked at the door since, in this way, I awoke the baby. (but I knocked) You needn ́t have bought the flowers. X didn ́t need / to show that the action was not necessary but it wasn ́t performed either: I didn ́t need to knock at the door since it was open. (so I didn ́t knock)
    SHOULD + PI: indicates that the past obligation was not fulfilled or carried out:
  • You should have locked the door before leaving the house. (But you didn ́t lock it.)
    OUGHT TO + PI: expresses an unfulfilled duty or obligation:
  • Paul ought to have waited until the lights were green before he crossed the street. (But he didn ́t wait.)
  1. WOULD + PI: 3rd conditional
  • I would have gone to university if my parents had had more money. (The speaker didn ́t go to university.)