December 08, 2020 PreAdv Page 1 Tamara Goushchina

Class activities
1. Warming-up: Your school days are the best days of your life.
Arguments for/against
2. Grammar. Modal verbs
1) Ability. Task I (from the previous class)
2) Permission. Notes, Tasks II. III. IV
3. Grammar. Comparing. NavigateC1, WB, Ex 1, 2a, b and 3, p4-5.
Recording 1.1

I Are the sentences OK?

1. The job interview was a disaster; I could only answer half the questions.
2. Yesterday I could leave work earlier – I got permission from my boss.
3. These days she is rather slow but as a child she could run like the wind.
4. When I finish the course next year I can speak perfect Italian.
5. It’s really annoying. Surely you knew they didn’t accept traveller’s
cheques at that hotel. You could warn me before I left.
6. We took an exam yesterday and I couldn’t answer any of the questions.
7. We can have gone up the Eiffel Tower while we were in Paris, but we
decided to go to the Louvre instead.
8. I can give you a hand tomorrow morning, if you want.
9. Thankfully, we could get to the airport just in time so we didn’t miss
the plane.
10. Kate couldn’t go to the barbecue as she had to work.
11. I’m afraid we can’t come to the wedding after all.
12. I’m afraid we won’t be able to come to the wedding after all.
13. I wish I can speak Russian, then I could read Tolstoy in the original.
December 08, 2020 PreAdv Page 2 Tamara Goushchina

Function Permission

Asking for permission: can, can’t, could, couldn’t, may

Giving/refusing permission: can, can’t, could, couldn’t, may,
may not
1. Present/future/generally
1) Can I use your phone? - Yes, of course you can.
No, I’m afraid you can’t.
2) You can’t smoke in the office. There’s a no-smoking rule in IBA.
3) You can’t smoke on the underground.
4) May I interrupt? (more polite and formal)
5) Candidates may not bring calculators into the examination room.
6) Excuse me, could I leave my coat here? (more polite than can)
7) Might I ask the Board to postpone the meeting? (very formal)
2. Past
8) In the 1950s British children could leave school at the age of
fourteen. (to describe general permission)
9) I was allowed to leave early yesterday.
(to talk about permission on a specific occasion)
10) The teacher said we could bring a dictionary. (reported speech)

II Are the sentences OK?

1. Can I finish watching this before I go to bed?

2. People might not smoke on British Airlines flights; it’s forbidden.

III Circle the correct option or both if they are OK.

1. Hello, could/can I speak to Mrs. Smith, please?

2. We could/were allowed to go home early yesterday because our
teacher was ill.
3. The head teacher said we could/were allowed to go home.
4. No, you may not/ can’t go out tonight. You know you’re grounded.
5. Mayn’t/Can’t I at least stay up till the end of the film?

December 08, 2020 PreAdv Page 3 Tamara Goushchina

6. May/Can I open the window, please? It’s a little stuffy in here.

7. Because we had guests last Sunday, the kids could/were allowed to
stay up till midnight.
8. Mum, can I watch TV and do my homework later? - No, you may/might
not!

IV What is the correct description, a/b?

1. I could wear anything I liked.

a) When I worked as a secretary.
b) On the day I took my secretarial exams.
2. May I interrupt?
a) At a formal business meeting.
b) At a family lunch.
3. You may not bring drinks into the auditorium during the performance.
a) It’s up to you to decide.
b) It’s forbidden.