Modals and conditionals

Catherine explains the difference

Why do we' wish you a merry Christmas', but 'hope you get well soon'?

Catherine Walter explains that you can't always use these two words in the same way

Find out which form is more colloquial: 'if I was' or 'if I were'

Is it correct to say 'Hadn't it been for...'?

Why don't all 'if' sentences follow the normal conditional sentence patterns?

You must read Roger Woodham's explanation of these two uses of 'must'

Do you know the difference between 'must' and 'have to'?

Susan Fearn explains the difference between these easily confused forms

Elodie Carpentier from France wonders when to use 'needn't have' and didn't need to'

Katinka Raupenstein from Germany thinks there might be slight differences between these words

Roger explains how to make polite requests using 'would you ...' and 'could you ...'

Can you sometimes use 'should' instead of 'if'?

Amy Lightfoot answers a question from Jun in Korea about different uses of 'have to'

George Pickering explains how to refer to the past with these modal verbs

You really should learn about the differences between 'should', 'would' and 'could'

Hani Al-Shoulah from Saudi Arabia wants to talk about regrets and mistakes in the past

Roger Woodham explains why some conditional sentences don't use 'will' or 'would'

Elena from Russia is puzzled by the third conditional

Roger Woodham presents some alternatives to 'if'

Julie from Belgium asks if this is correct: 'Did you used to play tennis?'

Is it ever possible to say 'If you will do something'?

Supposing you're not sure about 'what if', what should you do? Read this!

If you're not sure about when to use 'in case', read Roger Woodham's explanation

Harry from Germany wonders whether it makes a difference when we use these words

Roger Woodham covers some of the major aspects of usage of will and shall, would and should

Discover five different uses of 'would'

Definite plans vs. slight possibilities