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  • What's up, Mr. E? We could be finished in 20 minutes, is that right? Oh, hi. James,

  • test add capations

  • from EngVid. Mr. E and I were talking about something. We're having a little disagreement.

  • Well, not a disagreement, but a conversation. I think this lesson could be about five, ten

  • minutes. He said it should be 15. That's a standard lesson length. What's the difference?

  • I don't know. Why don't we go to the board and find out?

  • If this looks familiar, it should be. This is the -- "it should be". See? This is the

  • second lesson of modals that we're doing. The first one we did was excuses. Yeah? You

  • could've taken that lesson. If you haven't, close this one down; watch that; and come

  • back to this one. This one is actually on expectation. You know? Sometimes, people make

  • excuses for not doing stuff. And other times, our expectations are what we think should

  • happen in the future or could happen. This lesson will help you find out how native speakers

  • use modals in a little different way than you're used to or in the usual grammar setting.

  • Okay? So let's go to the board.

  • Once again, quickly we'll go over it. What do modals do? Well, modals talk about obligations

  • or possibilities, right? Possibility indicates future. Future. When we talk about what's

  • possible. An obligation is what you should do. So if you mix those together, that's what

  • an expectation is -- is what is possible and what we think people or things should do or

  • happen. Right? Your obligation or the obligation. But let's take a look at this here. Let's

  • go to the board, okay?

  • First of all, when we talk about modals, which I've just done -- you know, they express future

  • possibility or obligations. Let's look at the verb "to be" or the Be verb. The Be verb

  • is about relative truth. And you're probably going to say to me, "What the hell is relative

  • truth?" Well, relative truth is somebody believes it's true, and it depends where you sit. Right

  • now, you're looking at me, and I'm a tall guy. I'm skyscraper tall. I'm a giant. But

  • only if you're this tall. If you can't see me, it's because I'm a very tiny little man

  • looking up at Big James. Understand? So relatively speaking, if you're this big, anything this

  • big is big. But anything this big, big, big, big, big, big is bigger than this. Understand?

  • "Relative" means it depends on who is looking at it, right? If you're 60, 40 is young. If

  • you're 40 years old, 20 is young. And if you're 10, they're all old, okay? Relative truth.

  • Where do you sit?

  • So that's what the Be verb means. So once we put a modal, okay, with the Be verb, it

  • changes it. It gives it a different meaning. And what we want to look at now is what does

  • that mean, this change, or how does it change it? And the video before, I mentioned, we

  • noticed how we use it for excuses. In this one, we're going to see how we think the future

  • should be or could be, all right? Let's go.

  • So what is -- the modal should mean? Well, "should" is what we usually think -- "should"

  • is what is right, okay? We think it is right or probable, most likely to happen, or the

  • correct or right thing to do. That's why we use it as an advice modal. "You should go

  • to school. You should eat your dinner. You should shut up." Okay? We use it as advice.

  • The last one is strong advice. Okay? And "could" is possible. What's possible? You could be

  • talking to me live if you come to Canada. Or you could be dreaming this whole thing.

  • Press reset and see if that's the case. But no. "Could" is what's possible -- possible

  • to happen, okay?

  • Now, if you add this Be verb to "should", we get this particular thing. See, here's

  • the Be verb because Be is believe, remember? Your perspective; what you believe. "I should

  • + be -- I believe this is right or probable." "You should be a better student. I believe

  • this. And I think it's possible -- probable or right. If you studied harder" -- by saying

  • "studied harder", I think this is what is probable or the correct thing. Right?

  • But "possible", which is similar, but not the same -- let's not forget -- it's what's

  • possible. "I believe this is possible." "I believe we could be the greatest nation on

  • Earth", says Obama. He should've said something else. Notice I didn't say "should be"; I said

  • "shoulda". Different. Anyway.

  • So here, we've got what is possible versus what is probable. It seems simple and easy,

  • and it is. So why don't we just use one? And there's a reason for it. Remember, I said

  • this one has "probable" and "right"? And that's with "should"? Well, when people say "should"

  • in English -- like, "you should be" versus "could be" -- what is actually we think is

  • more accurate or more likely to happen. I'll give you an example. You're waiting for the

  • doctor. If the nurse comes out and says, "The doctor should be with you in five minutes."

  • Or the nurse comes out and says, "The doctor could be with you in five minutes." If you're

  • a native speaker, when she said, "The doctor should be with you in five minutes", you'll

  • go, "Okay. No problem." And you'll relax. If she comes out and says, "The doctor could

  • be with you in five minutes", you'll go, "Oh, damn. I'm here for another hour." Because

  • "could" means just possible. Maybe five; maybe ten. We don't know. When she said "should",

  • she's saying it's probable, and I believe this information is correct. Told you. Native

  • speaker time. Okay? You wouldn't know that difference. In the grammar books, they don't

  • point out it out that much because it's something we do when we interchange with each other

  • or exchange information. Right? We know "should" is much more accurate. Even though it's still

  • probable, it's not for sure. It's more accurate. While "could" is up there. Easy way to remember:

  • "should" has two. Two is more sure than one. And possible -- well, it's possible. It could

  • be an hour. Okay?

  • So why don't we do some examples? Just some quick ones. Are you ready?

  • Could be; should be. As I said, one has two things -- "should be" is more sure. "Could"

  • is possible. So let's go to a couple examples on the board and see how good you are since

  • you studied this lesson.

  • Okay. "The game just went into overtime. It -- over at any moment." Well -- "overtime".

  • Let's just understand what "overtime" is. A game has 90 minutes. If the game goes to

  • 91 or 92 minutes, it's overtime -- over the time we were told, okay? If you work overtime,

  • for instance -- you work eight hours. If you work 30 minutes or an hour, that's over your

  • work time. So now, the game is in overtime. Maybe the score is 0-0. No one has scored.

  • And it's overtime because you must have a score. Someone must win. So, "The game just

  • went into overtime. It -- something -- over at any moment." That's interesting.

  • And the second one is -- your mom. "Mr. E! Mr. E! Dinner -- something, something -- ready

  • in five minutes."

  • So the first one is, "The game is in overtime." And the second one is, "Dinner -- ready in

  • five minutes." What do we do? Well, let's just imagine a game. Crowd's roaring. Everybody's

  • standing there, waiting. There's silence on the field. Now, it's possible that one goal

  • could end everything, but we don't know when that goal is going to happen. So it's not a sure

  • thing, right? Can you do that? Can you tell me how the game will end? If so, call me at

  • -- no. Don't call me. But what I'm saying is it's only possible. And when we talk about

  • possible, there are many things that could happen, and we think this one will happen.

  • So I'm going to go that "the game could be over at any moment." And that's true. It's

  • possible. It could be one minute or ten minutes or an hour.

  • Now, what about the second one? "Dinner -- ready in five minutes." Well, remember what we talked

  • about when we said "should"? "Should" is probable and right. It's more concrete, or we say much

  • more -- we can believe it more because "concrete" is solid. Because five minutes is a specific

  • time. It's not a guessing time. Right? And we believe this is true or right. So this

  • one would be "should be ready" because your mom actually thinks it might be four minutes,

  • but for sure, five minutes. So these are the answers here. "Could be" or "should be". And

  • to understand the thought I explained, remember, "could be" is possible. So when there are

  • more than one and you're not too sure which one was going to happen, you should use "could".

  • But if you think -- you're pretty sure that this is the right one, say "should", okay?

  • Cool? All right.

  • Well, I should be going, now. Right? It's the right thing to do -- most probable -- because

  • the video can't be too long. Mr. E and I are going to be gone. This is the second part

  • of the modals in native speaker use, right? You've got your excuses now, so you can get

  • yourself out of trouble. See? I help you. And now, your expectations. "What have you

  • done for me lately? I expect." Okay.

  • But I expect you or you should be going to www.engvid.com. There you go. "Eng" as in

  • "English"; "vid" as in "video". Right? We'll teach you should, could, would've, could've,

  • and all sorts of modals and prepositions and phrases. Okay? Anyways, it's been fun. I'll

  • see you shortly.

What's up, Mr. E? We could be finished in 20 minutes, is that right? Oh, hi. James,

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