Speaking. How would you consider yourself if you: Fell on hard times?

How would you consider yourself if you:

• Fell on hard times?
• Couldn’t make ends meet?
• Were made of money?
• Were down and out?
• Had to tighten your belt?

Grammar

Modal verbs: Need and Dare

1. Used with auxiliaries: Do/don’t/will/ won’t, etc. For negatives, questions and question tags. In this case they are followed by the infinitive with ‘to’.

You need to buy a new mansion, don’t you?

He doesn’t need to buy a new chateau, does he?

Do you need to buy new furniture?

He is the only student who dares to argue with Dr. Brown about the fiscal policy.

They don’t dare to argue with Pf. Brown on economic points.

Do you dare to argue with the dean?

Expressions:

Need

1. There’s no need to … There’s no need to leave so early.

Is there any need to …? Is there any need to leave so early?

2. ‘to be in need of + noun – not infinitive

This house is in need of renovation.

Dare

1. How dare you! How dare you borrow my typewriter without asking!

2. I daresay I daresay he wrote a number of sonnets that were never published.

3. to dare someone to I dare you to ask the pianist for his autograph.

Exercise № 92. Complete the following sentences with a suitable form of ‘need’ or ‘dare’

1. I (not dare) disturb Professor Williams yesterday, because he was giving a violin lesson.

2. If you (need) look up any words in the dictionary, don’t hesitate to borrow mine.

3. If I knew as little about Shakespeare as Arthur does, I (not dare) argue with Dr. Jones.

4. If we’d known the cathedral was so near the station, we (not dare) take a taxi.

5. How (dare) ask the Poetry Society to read one of his poems?

6. When they go to university, they (need) buy all their own books?

7. Why didn’t someone tell her she (not need bring) her camera?

8. They (not need) translate the poem, as it had already been translated into four languages.

9. They (need) send his examination certificates with his application form?

Exercise № 93. Using suitable form of ‘need’ or ‘dare’, rewrite the following sentences, keeping as closely as possible to the original meaning.

1. It’s unnecessary for you to write to Dr. Barnes personally. (needn’t)

2. The students don’t have the courage to tell Dr. Barnes they can’t cope with what he is saying. (daren’t)

3. Is it really necessary for you to learn that poem by heart? (need)

4. I think it very likely that Pablo Picasso did not sign all his early paintings. (daresay)

5. I challenge you to recite one of your own poems at the meeting. (dare)

6. Did you have to be so rude to her kinsman? (need)

7. It wasn’t necessary for you to pay a guide, because the professor took us round the cathedral himself. (need)

8. I don’t know how he had to have gone to all that trouble to record that concerto. (needn’t)

9. I like playing the piano but I don’t think I’d ever have the nerve to play in public. (dare)

A Piece of Advice:

Exercise № 94. Read the letters below. Which of them describes the most serious problem? Which writer do you think is the most sensible? Do you think any of these letters is silly? Why? Also, you need to decide whether it was written by an American or a Russian resident. Why?

A. For ten years of my marriage, my husband has gone after many other women, sometimes sleeping with them but sometimes merely flirting. I left him twice and went back when he begged me to. But you can easily imagine how unhappy, miserable and humiliated I have been. You may wonder why I’ve stuck to him. Well, I love him and I believe that in his own peculiar way, he loves me too. He has improved since I left last time, about six months ago. There’s no feeling of security for me and I’m always on tenterhooks. Some time ago I met a very nice man who would like me to live with him. I know I’d have peace with him and I’m very tempted though I don’t love him. Which should I choose – a man like my husband or the one who’d never give a woman a moment’s worry. By the way, none of them is rich.

B. I’m married to a superman – very kind and considerate and loving to me and our three children. Some kind of Mr. Right. He would do anything in the world for us, until he gets behind the wheel of his car. Then he becomes a totally different man. He’s aggressive, bad tempered and drives flat out. We’re on tenterhooks when we’re in the car and thankful to get out of it. What makes otherwise lovely men like him turn into beasts on the road?

C. I’ve been going out with a man called Peter Sullivan for eight months. A few weeks ago, he packed me in for another girl, even though he said he loved me and we’d never part. Then, a week or two later, he asked me out again. Certainly, I said yes. But he still keeps talking about her and making excuses to see her. He’s being very moody and snaps at me when I ask him about her. I’m so much miserable, what should I do?

D. When I was a teenager boy I slept around, as they say. Then I got married to a good woman and have had 16 years of happiness and two lovely sons. But all the while I dread meeting any of my former girlfriends in case my wife gets to know.

E. We rocked our parents. We needed things to do our parents never did. We were growing our hair long, we wore short skirts, and we smoked and went to dancing clubs. We were exchanging and recording amazing rock groups like the Rolling Stones, the Queen and Deep Purple. I loved doing dancing called rock’n’roll. I won a prize for that one time. My boyfriend had a car and needed to spend some money to fill it in with petrol if we wanted to go for picnics in the countryside. My dad bought a car in 1976. It was an Opel Record with an automatic gear box. It needed a lot of petrol as the engine was of two litres. We went to pictures once a week, and it cost us huge money – 40 roubles, equivalent of 40 US dollars. Nevertheless, the life we had we liked.

Exercise № 95. Choose one of the letters and decide what piece of advice to give the writer. Useful expressions to be used in your letter:

1. Why don’t you ….?

2. Why not …? (E.g. Why not try to forgive him?)

3. What / How about ….ing?

4. I think you should ….

5. If I were you, I would most definitely …

6. The best way to … is to…