Hi, Ardith Hinton!   
   I read your message from  30.03.2015 17:52   
   about a question with "could".   
      
    AH> "modal auxiliary" it seemed to me that in every example the auxiliary   
    AH> *preceded an infinitive*.  Not long thereafter I an across two more   
      
   skipped   
      
    AH> uncertainty?  "Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy?" is well-known in   
    AH> North America.  So is "May I leave the room?" to those of us whose   
    AH> teachers insisted we distinguish between "can" (ability) & "may"   
    AH> (permission), but didn't explain that they're modal auxiliaries too. Our   
    AH> echomail buddies who are learning English as a foreign language need   
    AH> terms they can look up for clarification of the "rules".  Native   
    AH> speakers, OTOH, know what "sounds right" to them... but they may or may   
    AH> not consciously understand *why*.   
      
    AH>              Thanks to you both!  I learned something, and I hope you   
    AH> did.  :-))   
      
   Thanks you, too. Indeed, now it is clear that after the modals we should use   
   infinitives.   
      
      
   Bye, Ardith!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   ENGLISH_TUTOR 2015   
      
   --- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox   
    * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)