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Getting the Subtle Distinctions: Should versus Had Better

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Roann Altman
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Extract

Careful observation of the speech of even advanced learners of English often reveals usage that deviates in some way from the target language. One area of difficulty appears to be the system of modality that includes such forms as must, have to, should, had better, can, and may, among others. Some errors are purely grammatical in nature. For example:(1) (a) In fact, they musted to return back home.

(b) Perhaps if I went to France maybe I can do it.

Others are not so much ungrammatical as inappropriate. For example,(2) (a) Should I give you the receipt for this?uttered by a bank teller should actually have been shall, since the teller was not really asking me for my advice but was trying to find out whether I wanted the receipt. In (2b),(2) (b) I should take this English class.

the student was actually trying to ascertain which section of a class to sign up for, and really needed to convey that he was required to take that particular class. In order to ascertain the possible cause for these persistent misuses of the modals, several measures of modal usage were developed and administered to groups of native and non-native speakers. The results showed that the understanding non-natives have of expressions of modality is qualitatively different from the understanding of natives. Some possible causes for this discrepancy in understanding are suggested along with possible solutions for remedying the problem.

Information

Type
Research Notes
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 1986 , pp. 80 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

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