Research students

Reported modal verbs

Lena said, “I can do the project tomorrow.” (future reference)	Lena said, she could/would be able to do the project the next day.
“I can prepare presentations.” (ability)	She told us, she could prepare presentations.
“I may take part in the conference.”	She hoped, she might take part in the conference.
“What shall I tell my supervisor?” (asking for advice)	She asked me what she should tell her supervisor.
“You must write an essay.”(obligation)	She informed me, I must /had to write an essay.
“You needn’t translate the text.”	She was sure, I needn’t /didn’t need to/didn’t have to translate the text.

• 
  would, could, might, should, ought to, had better, used to, mustn’t – do not change; must doesn’t change when it expresses a logical assumption.
  

5. 
   Changes in time expressions
   

Direct speech	Reported speech
Now	Then, at the time, immediately
Today, tonight	That day, that night
Yesterday	The day before, the previous day
Two days ago	Two days before
Last month	The month before, the previous month
This, these	That, those
Tomorrow	The next/the following day
Next month	The following month
Here	There

Modal Verbs

Modal	Use	Present/Future	Past
must	obligation / duty	Post-graduates must work hard.
	prohibition	You mustn’t forget to send the application.
	supposition	The lecturer must be late today.	The lecturer must have been late that day.
can / could	ability	I can learn modal verbs online. I will be able to do this task next week.	I could speak English when I was at school. He was able to stress the most important facts in his report.
	informal polite request	Can / Could I borrow your book?
	informal permission	Yes, you can.
	possibility	You can borrow books at the university library.
	impossibility (only negative in the past)		That can't have been true!
may	polite request	May I borrow your book?
	formal permission	You may change the theme of your report.	The supervisor said I might leave the room.
	uncertainty	He may be at university now.	He may have been at university an hour ago.
to have to	necessity	I have to work in the laboratory today. I will have to do the task next week.	I had to work in the laboratory yesterday.
	lack of necessity	I don’t have to make a report today.	I didn’t have to make a presentation last week.
should	advice	You should study tonight.
	criticism		You should have studied yesterday.
to be to	plan, agreement	We are to meet them at the airport.	We were to meet them at the airport. We were to have met them at the airport. (But we didn’t.)
ought to (old)	advice / duty	Students ought to attend lectures.
shall	asking for opinion	Shall I participate in the conference?
	legal obligation	Everyone shall observe laws.
need	lack of necessity	You needn’t copy this material.	You needn’t have copied this material. (But you did.)
will / would	polite request	Will/ Would you repeat your question again?
	refusal	The pen won’t write.	The student wouldn’t answer the question.

IF-CLAUSES

Types of if-clauses	If-clause	Main clause
Real situations	present simple	future simple
	If he receives a degree, he will be promoted.
Unreal present	past simple	would + infinitive
	If he regularly attended the classes, he would have better results.
Unreal past	past perfect	would + perfect infinitive
	If he had prepared the report, he would have taken part in the conference.
Mixed	past simple past perfect	would + perfect infinitive would + infinitive
	If he were more sensitive, he wouldn’t have raised the issue. If he had read the book, he would know the answer now.

VERBALS / NON-FINITE FORMS

Infinitive	active		passive
simple	to do	I’d like to write an article for a journal.	to be done	The articles are supposed to be written for journals.
continuous	to be doing	The student is thought to be writing an article now.	-
perfect	to have done	He is reported to have written an article.	to have been done	The article is said to have been written by a master’s student.
perfect cont.	to have been doing	He is said to have been writing an article for two days.	-

Gerund	active		passive
simple	doing	The student had difficulty in preparing a report.	being done	He dislikes being asked in front of the class.
perfect	having done	He denied having written this article.	having been done	She remembers having been asked this question before.

Participle I	active		passive
present	doing	I saw my friend reading in the library.	being done	The books being written by famous writers are very popular.
perfect	having done	Having read the book, he left the library.	having been done	The book having being read, I can return it to the library.

Participle II

V edopened V3 done

His studies completed, he can have some rest. The dissertation written, the student can defend it.

SECTION III
List of Academic Vocabulary Used in Preparing Reports.

As the title implies the article describes …

The author concentrates on …
He (she) presents a general picture of …
The description of … … is based on …
The article seems to be of particular interest to an audience of (interested in chemistry, mathematics, physics …) students.
The asserted purpose of the present paper is to answer the question …
In the attempt to give an account of … the author offers a survey of modern interpretation of the problem …
The paper acquaints the reader with the efforts of theorists (theoreticians) to define … .
Though the paper is … the general reader will find a wealth of information … which makes the article attractive and useful …
The paper discusses the application of …
The reader will find the book (research article, volume) useful (helpful, interesting, attractive) of particular (special, great, interest) importance (significance, value).
In the reviewed book (paper) the method (theory, discussion, treatment) of … is presented.
The purpose (aim, object) of the book (publication, paper, article, monthly, journal) under review (discussion, consideration) is to survey, explain, describe, provide, to examine, give…)
The scope (object) of the journal is (aims at providing a broad view of the subject) … a critical review of, to publish important and topical results or fundamental research in the field of …
Opposite views on … open a range of hypotheses which can explain the phenomenon.
… is presented by 2 points of view that … and the more prevalent view that …
No view is discredited, both are supported by …
The attempts are made …
However, preference is given to the belief that …
The paper does not give information on the applicability of the theory used …
The method proposed by … is applicable to the actual analysis.
The same concepts apply to all forms of …
The author discusses (considers, determines, outlines, gives, proves, solves, extends, derives the theory (examples, method, the development).
The author thinks, supposes, estimates, claims, believes, assumes, argues, notices, announces, points out, shows, states, emphasizes, reports, asserts, concludes, declares, confirms (that) …
The concept of … is given by …
Footnotes to a table (the title) are indicated by … (symbols) …
The apparatus (the table) is shown, given in Figure I (Table II).
As can be seen from this figure (table) that …
The measurements shown in Figure II illustrate…
Results reproduced (introduced) in Table II show…
The problem is stated (is discussed, has been discussed by) …
References to … are numbered (are indicated by) …
Bibliography is a list of references (books, writings).
The subject field of a periodical embraces (covers, provides, encourages, is designed (to), is intended, is developed (to), is concerned with, is published for, contains, includes, combines, explores, examines, concerns, records, summarizes, suggests).
The concluding remark emphasizes that …
In the reviewed paper the author has succeeded in showing (providing, presenting …) the…
The method (procedure, approach, idea or result) seems to have practical interest (value) to …
The method proves (permits, agrees with the measurement) … is based on, is stated, is applied, is developed, is derived from, is outlined …
However, the subject (applicability) is (seems) doubtful to …
In spite of … this method (the article) is (seems) …
The author (editor, publisher, proofreader) is to blame for …
The author failed to show (exhibit, provide, present, give a account of, direct our attention to …)
The problem considered is the determination of …
The (principal) results obtained (arrived at) confirm, show, lead to, coincide with …)