QUESTIONS - GRAMMAR 2006

THINK OF AND THINK ABOUT

Prepositions are a very tricky area! This is also what's known as a collocation issue ... which means we need to look at which words work best in partnership with 'think of' and 'think about'. Basically, 'think of' usually means 'imagine' whereas 'think about' tends to mean something closer to 'consider', so the differences would arise in certain contexts. For example I'm thinking of a tropical beach, please don't interrupt me! ==> I mean I'm imagining it or daydreaming about it. They're thinking about whether to agree to the sale ==> it means they're considering the sale. In these cases, it's just natural usage patterns that tend to favour one form over another. But when we are talking about people, we often tend to use them both in a similar way: For example If my friend had an accident and went to hospital, I might send a card and some flowers with a message which could either read: 'I'm thinking of you', or I'm thinking about you', and the meaning wouldn't be significantly different.

BEHIND AND BEYOND

There are quite a few different definitions we need to look at here but the meanings of 'behind' and 'beyond' are actually quite different. One of the principal meanings of 'behind' is as a preposition of place. If you are behind a thing or a person you are facing the back of that thing or person. For example: There were two boys sitting behind me. In these terms it means the opposite of in front of. But 'behind' also has adverb uses: if you stay behind, you remain in a place after others have gone. For example: John stayed behind after school to take the test. Equally, if you leave something behind, you do not take it with you when you go: 'They'd been forced to leave behind their businesses and possessions. As a time expression, 'behind' appears when someone or something is behind, they are delayed or are making less progress than other people think they should: The bus was behind schedule. There are also some more abstract uses of 'behind' that you should be aware of. If an experience is behind you, it is finished. Now that the divorce is behind us, we can move on. Also the people, reasons or events behind a situation are the causes of it or are responsible for it as in the sentence: ...the man behind the modernisation of the organisation. Finally, if you are behind someone, you support them. The country was behind the president. If we turn now to think about 'beyond' - 'beyond' can also function as a preposition of place. If something is 'beyond' a place, it is on the other side of it, as in the case of '...a house beyond the village.' But there's a more abstract meaning to 'beyond' as well - it can mean to extend, continue or progress beyond a particular thing or means to extend or continue further than that thing or point. For example: Few children remain in school beyond the age of 16. 'Beyond' also has some quite interesting idiomatic usages. If someone or something is beyond belief, understanding or control, it has become impossible to believe, understand or control it. 'The situation has changed beyond recognition.' If you say that something is beyond you, you mean that you cannot understand it. How he managed to find us is beyond me.

WILL, GOING, GOING TO

'I will go to the market at 4' and 'I am goint to the market at 4', I think it's actually worth looking at three possible verb forms for the future: Will, going to do, and finally I am goint to. WILL + BARE INFINITIVE So let's start by looking at how we use will and the bare infinitive, as in the example 'will go'. This verb tense is known as the future simple, and has several functions. One of the most common is to express a prediction, that is a guess or a subjective opinion, about the future, when we've not made any definite arrangement, but just think that something is probable, or likely to happen at the time of speaking. If I asked you the question: Who do you think will win the World Cup? I'm guessing that you might say 'I think Holland will win', and you might also feel really confident about that. But I think even the most passionate football supporter would agree the final result (of a football tournament that hasn't yet finished) can't be thought of as definite or something that has been arranged in advance. In a similar way, we also use 'will' for decisions, offers, promises or threats that are spontaneous, or made quickly at the moment of speaking. The speaker hasn't decided before. If you saw the sun was shining outside, you might say 'It's a beautiful day, I think I'll, or I will, go for a swim later,' or 'maybe I'll phone my friends and organise a picnic'. In all of these situations, the common link is that there are no definite arrangements for these events. No decision has been made before speaking. GOING TO + BARE INFINITIVE Moving on now to a different structure: Going to + bare infinitive, which is sometimes used quite interchangeably with 'will'. This has a particular function for stronger predictions, perhaps when there's some present evidence to suggest something will happen: 'Ella's a really good student, I think she's going to be a brain surgeon when she gets older' We also use this structure when we have a personal intention, or are making a resolution or decision to do something, as in 'I'm going to stop eating so much chocolate this year' AM, ARE, IS + ING OF THE VERB In a context where you have not only decided to do something but also made all the arrangements, sometimes referred to as 'diary future', we're more likely to use a present verb tense, the present continuous ? am / is / are + ING form of the verb, as you have in your second sentence 'I am going to the market at 4'. We use this form for future events that are booked and already arranged, and which we consequently feel are definitely going to happen. For example I am flying to France on Sunday, we're buying a house or I'm meeting my boss at 2

WHO and WHOM

There are two things worth knowing about the use of the pronoun 'whom'. Firstly, in modern English usage it's considered rather formal and old-fashioned, although it does still sometimes appear in academic and official forms of writing. 'Who' is the modern equivalent that can be used either formally or informally and in spoken and written forms. We are also more limited with the use of 'whom' grammatically, as it only appears as an object pronoun - so relating to or defining the object of the sentence, rather than the subject. For example we might refer to the man to whom I spoke. In this case the man is the object, and I the subject. 'Whom' refers to 'the man', not me, and is preceded by the preposition 'to'. In modern everyday use, we'd be much more likely to say the man who I spoke to, with the preposition coming at the end of our sentence and creating a much more informal and colloquial effect. 'Who' is also flexible in that it can be both a subject or an object pronoun. the man who spoke to me or the man who I spoke to would both work. We can't do the same thing with 'whom' which is limited to defining our object.

SOLVE and RESOLVE

They are roughly synonymous - in other words similar in meaning and therefore sometimes used interchangeably, where the basic meaning is to find a solution or answer to a problem. For example, we could say either We have solved the problems in management We have resolved the problems in management To resolve a problem, argument or difficulty means to deal with it successfully. As in the example The cabinet met to resolve the dispute However, be aware that 'resolve' can be used with the infinitive with a slightly different meaning. If you resolve to do something you make a firm decision to do it. They resolved to take action 'Resolve' also sometimes appears as a noun meaning a determination to do something. We must be firm in our resolve to oppose them.

THE

It has two pronunciations. One pronunciation - the one that most learners will know - is 'the' with a vowel that we call a schwa - a very common vowel. So we talk about 'the sound'; 'the word'; 'the number'. This pronunciation appears before consonants. The other pronunciation 'the' comes before a vowel. So you will notice that I said 'the other pronunciation'. One warning though - there are words that look as if they begin with a vowel, but they actually begin with a consonant. Some example are the word 'university'. It starts with a /j/ sound, which is a consonant. So we say, 'the university'. the word 'one' - 'the one that most learners will know'. So remember that these words are consonants, not vowels. The other place you would use 'the' is when you are stressing the word and adding extra emphasis to the noun coming after it. So you talk about restaurant that you like and say, 'It's THE best restaurant in town'; or 'It's THE restaurant in town'. Very useful for expressing your enthusiasm about anything.

WAIT and AWAIT

There are two kinds of difference between 'wait' and 'await'. The first difference is in the grammatical structures that are associated with these two verbs. The verb 'await' must have an object - for example I am awaiting your answer And the object of 'await' is normally inanimate, not a person, and often abstract. So you can't say, 'John was awaiting me'. The verb 'wait' can come in different structures. Firstly, you can just use 'wait' on its own: We have been waiting and waiting and waiting and nobody has come to talk to us. Another structure that is very common is to use 'wait' with another verb - for example, I waited in line to go into the theatre. Very often, with 'wait', you mention the length of time that you have been waiting - for example, I have been waiting here for at least half an hour. Finally, speakers often mention what or who they have been waiting for - so, if a friend was really late you could say, 'I have been waiting for you for two hours!' The other difference between the two verbs, 'wait' and 'await', is the level of formality. 'Await' is more formal than 'wait' - it would be used in formal letters, for example. If you want a tip about using these two verbs, I would suggest that you should use 'wait for'; use 'await' only in cases where you are absolutely sure that you have heard good users of the language using it, and in cases where things are quite formal.

RAISE and RISE

Well, the basic meaning of the two verbs, 'raise' and 'rise', is almost the same - moving up, from a low position to a higher position, either physically or metaphorically. The difference between them is a grammatical one. 'Raise' needs an object, and 'rise' cannot take an object. So, for example, I personally think that the government of this country needs to raise taxes (and 'taxes' is the object of the verb) I think that taxes need to rise. The need to raise standards (and 'standards' is the object of the verb) Standards need to rise.

PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE and PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

So let's look at the difference between the present perfect continuous - sometimes called the present perfect progressive - and the simple present perfect. We normally use the present perfect progressive for shorter temporary situations. So you might say That woman's been standing out there for ten minutes And we use the simple present perfect for longer or permanent situations. So for example That statue has stood in the square for two hundred years Here's another example of a contrast: I've been living with my sister while my flat's been redecorated I've lived in England for twenty five years TIPS 1. However, there are a few rules that you can apply. Some verbs are really almost never used in progressive forms even when the meaning is one where you would use a progressive. The most familiar examples of these are be have know think smell feel ... So we say "She's been here for ten minutes" not "She's been being here for ten minutes" I've had a headache all day I've only known him since Friday 2. One is, if you want to put the emphasis on results, you use the simple present perfect. So I've answered ten phone calls about the accident already Whereas you would say I've been answering the phone all morning and I haven't been able to get anything else done 3. We use the simple present perfect to say how many times something has happened. She's emailed me six times this morning

UNDER and BELOW and BENEATH

1. First of all, to make the difference between 'under' and 'below'. Both of these words can mean 'in a lower position than', so there's a sense in which they mean the same thing. But we use them sometimes in different circumstances. If you're talking about something being covered by something, we use 'under'. I hid the key under a rock Officials said there was nothing under President Bush's jacket We also use 'under' when we're talking about 'younger than' or 'less than'. Under a dozen times Under the age of ten There are a number of fixed expressions, so, for example, a lot of expressions about what's happening while something else is going on, or because of certain conditions, or controlled by something or someone. Under construction Under fire Under attack Under arrest Under these conditions Under scrutiny Under pressure Under the Ceausescu regime All of those form a kind of a family. 2. You use 'below' when you're talking about something that's not physically immediately under, or not necessarily immediately under. Below the surface of the water (That might be anywhere below the surface of the water, not necessarily just touching it) Twenty miles below the earth's surface (definitely not immediately under it) Below the poverty line We use 'below', if we're visualising a kind of vertical scale. Below sea level Below average An IQ below 80 Radio waves below 22 kHz 3. So what about 'beneath'? Well, 'beneath' is basically more literal, or formal, and we use it in many of the same senses. But there are lots of fixed phrases, and so what you want to do is just read a lot and note when one is used and when the other is used.

WELL and TRULY

And first let me explain what 'well and truly stuck' means. If something is 'well and truly stuck' you really can not move it. So for example if your car breaks down and you try to push it and it won't move it may be well and truly stuck. So 'well and truly' here means absolutely stuck, you can't move it. And really when we say something is well and truly stuck it shows that we are actually a little bit frustrated or we really aren't very happy about the fact that we can't move it. So for example if I come home and I want to have a biscuit and I look in the biscuit tin and there are none there I can say 'well they are well and truly finished'. However 'well and truly' is a very difficult phrase to use because it doesn’t go with lots and lots of different adjectives. If you were to say the words 'well and truly' to someone in Britain they would imagine that the next word would be stuck. 'well and truly' is an adverbial phrase to describe the adjective stuck. And they just go together. There are no clear rules to for why certain adverbs go with certain adjectives, they just do. So, for example, if you say to someone in Britain the adverb – 'stunningly' – the adjective they're most likely to think of is 'beautiful'. These are what we call fixed phrases. They're phrases which just go together, they collocate – they go together. It's not just adverbs and adjectives which go together in this way. We often find nouns and nouns go together. So for example 'fish and …. chips'. Or adjectives and nouns, for example we can say - 'heavy smoker', someone who smokes a lot 'heavy drinker' someone who drinks a lot. But someone who eats a lot? No it's not a 'heavy eater' it's a 'big eater'. Basically these phrases which go together form patterns, there are no real rules to learn. You just have to be able to work out what the patterns are. So how do you learn these phrases which go together? Well, the two best things you can do are to read and to listen. When you're reading a newspaper or a book, try to work out phrases that you see coming up more than once. If you see a phrase which goes together maybe two or three times then you can think 'mmm I think those go together, I think those collocate'. And similarly if you're listening to the radio, if you hear the phrase two or three times, make a note of it, because then you know 'mmm this is a collocation, this is a phrase which goes together'. To sum up, 'well and truly is an adverbial phrase and most often you use it with the adjective 'stuck', 'well and truly stuck' You can use it in one or two other circumstances, but usually you will hear it with he adjective 'stuck'. Although now I'm well and truly finished and I'm going to go and have a cup of tea.

EFFECT and AFFECT

So many people say affect and effect - for the word that begins with 'a' they say and for the word that begins with 'e' they say . What's the difference? The main use of 'affect' - with an 'a' - is as a verb meaning to have an influence. So you could say: Your emotional state affects how you remember things The word with an 'e' - effect - is usually used as a noun and it means the result of an influence. So: What effect will the new law have on road use? Part of the problem, you see, is not only that these two words are spelt very similarly, often pronounced the same, but their meanings are also very similar - one's a noun, one's a verb. There is a rarer and more formal use of 'effect' as a verb - that's the one with the 'e' - meaning 'to make something happen'. So you could say: It is pointless to try and effect a chance in policy now There are also a number of fixed phrases so something that you might hear quite often is 'TAKE EFFECT'. So that's effect - with an 'e' - used as a noun. Here's an example: New privacy regulations will take effect on July 1st Since we're being complete here, I'll give you one last little meaning. You may sometimes run across the word with an 'a' but it's pronounced differently, meaning a good or bad feeling towards something, or an attitude towards something. And that's usually pronounced /æfekt/. So it's a psychology term. You might hear, or read more likely: The influence of positive effect on social behaviour But, that's quite rare and I hope that differentiating 'affect' - with an 'a' - as a verb, and 'effect' - with an 'e' - as a noun, will at least set you on the right track.

IN and AT

Ex. I live 'IN' Victoria, London. There are some differences between 'in' and 'at'. We use 'at' for a position at a point. So for example if there was a train line that ran to Victoria and passed Victoria to other places, you would say to your friend == > 'Get off the train at Victoria'. Also, if we're using the name of a building we tend to use 'at'. We also use 'at' where people work or study when the name of the place is given. So I can say I have a cousin who works at the Pentagon My daughter is studying at the Institute of Education We also use 'at' for group activities. So you could say I was at a concert I was at a party I was at a football match The idea we have with 'in' is of a position inside an area or inside a three-dimensional space. So you would say in the kitchen in the woods in Malta So you can say I live in Victoria I live in Malta

IF and WHETHER

We use both 'if' and 'whether' in indirect questions, so you could say I don't know if she's coming I don't know whether she's coming But in some circumstances we can only use 'whether'. For example, before infinitives with 'to', we only use 'whether'. We say, 'I don't know whether to tell him', but you wouldn't say, 'I don't know if to tell him'. We also only use 'whether' after prepositions. So we say, 'We had a long discussion about whether to go by car or by train'. We couldn't use 'if' in that sentence. We also prefer 'whether' when the clause beginning with 'whether' is a subject or a complement. So you say, 'Whether you are agree or not makes no difference to me'. (The 'whether you agree or not' is the subject of that sentence.) And lastly, we use 'whether' with 'or'. So we say, for example, 'I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry'. Now some people who think that there are correct and incorrect ways of speaking English think that you shouldn't use 'whether' with 'or', but actually most people these days do use it. And lastly, 'whether' does tend to be more formal than 'if' so then in the cases where you could use 'whether' or 'if', if you are speaking more formally, you would probably use 'whether'.

HEAR and LISTEN

We use hear for sounds that come to our ears, without us necessarily trying to hear them! For example, They heard a strange noise in the middle of the night Listen is used to describe paying attention to sounds that are going on. For example, Last night, I listened to my new Mariah Carey CD So, you can hear something without wanting to, but you can only listen to something intentionally. An imaginary conversation between a couple might go: A. 'Did you hear what I just said?' B. 'No, sorry, darling, I wasn't listening'

COME BACK and GO BACK

So we use 'come' when we are talking about movement towards the speaker. So I might say to someone who's walking away from me "come back". But you can also use it when you're talking about a speaker's past or future position - so "They came back to our house" "Can you come to the party?" In those two cases we're talking about the location of the speaker. We can also, if we're telling a story, locate the centre of the action in one of the people in the story, so that 'come' is about movement towards the person we are focusing on and 'go' is about movement away from the person we're focusing on. So you might say: "He begged her to come back to him" "He begged her to go back to her family". So 'come' is towards the speaker or towards the person you are talking about and 'go' is away from the speaker or away from the person you are speaking about. It's a neat and pretty clear rule. Lots of rules in English aren't neat and clear but this one is and I hope that helps you.

WILL STAY OR WILL BE STAYING

First off, I should say that if you used either of these forms you would be understood without difficulty and they are both asking for the same information. The answer would be a period of time, three weeks, 10 minutes, a couple of years, for example. How long will you stay in London? - This is what's commonly called the 'future simple'. How long will you be staying in London? - is the 'future continuous', also called the 'future progressive'. It would probably be unusual for a native speaker to say "How long will you stay?" This is the future simple. Simple forms often go with permanent ideas - but if you are asking someone this question, then you believe that they will not stay permanently, their stay will be temporary, they're going to leave at some point. So, we wouldn't use the future simple to ask a question about a temporary condition. If someone is visiting you or your country, it'll be much more likely that we'd ask, 'How long will you be staying?'.

TIME EXPRESSIONS

We can actually say “quarter”, instead of “a quarter”, when we’re talking about the time. If you asked me the time at 6.15, I might well say “quarter past six”, instead of “a quarter past six” – but that’s pretty conversational, and “a quarter” is more normal if we’re speaking carefully, or writing. We never say “a half” when we’re talking about time; say, “half past six”, or even “half six”, but NOT “a half past six”. Interestingly, we also use “half” without “a” in other situations, and not just when we’re giving the time. For example, if I eat half an orange – that’s how I say it! But, I would say “a quarter of an orange”, not “quarter of an orange”. So that’s it: we say “a quarter past four”, not “a half past four” – just one of those irregular things. MINUTES Talking about time in English is actually quite complicated. In ordinary conversation, what most people say is “five past”, “twenty past”, “twenty-five to”, “a quarter to” and so on….Interestingly, we usually don’t say “four past”, or “six past” – we put in minutes there. We say “four minutes past”, “six minutes past” and we drop minutes with the fives: “five past”, “twenty past”. AFTER AND TILL IN AMERICAN ENGLISH As you probably know, American English has some ways of talking about the time that aren’t used in British English: they might say “after” instead of “past” for example. An American might say “ten after six”, where I would say “ten past six” – and where British people say “ten to six”, some Americans might use “of” or “till” or “before”. So that’s conversational time-giving: “five past”, “twenty past”, “twenty-five to”. In a more formal style (for instance if we’re giving the times of events), we’re more likely to put it differently and to say “three ten”, “six fifteen”, “seven forty-five”….and when we’re talking about timetables we often use the 24-hour clock. So, we might say that a train arrives at “eighteen twenty-two”. But if you ask me what time it is, just as the train arrives, or just as it’s supposed to arrive, I’ll look at my watch, and I won’t say “it’s eighteen twenty-two”, I’ll tell you “it’s twenty-two minutes past six”.

NO SOONER - HARDLY - SCARCELY

If I say “no sooner had I arrived at the station than the train came in”, we need to be clear what happened first. Does it mean, the train came in and then me, or I came in and right after me the train? Well, my experience is actually that I arrive at the station, and then the train doesn’t come in for hours. But if I say “no sooner had I arrived at the station than the train came in”, it means, I came in, and right after me the train. I got there first… just! I’ll give you another couple of examples: No sooner had I put the phone down than it rang again No sooner had I finished the meal than I started feeling hungry again There’s two similar structures, also rather literary, that have got the same meaning, with ‘hardly’ and ‘scarcely’. You could say “hardly had I arrived at the station when the train came in”, or “scarcely had I arrived at the station when the train came in”. Same meaning: I got there just before the train. It’s a slightly different structure to the one with ‘no sooner’, because with no sooner we use ‘than’ – after a comparative, sooner – with ‘hardly’ and ‘scarcely’ we say “when”: “hardly had I arrived when the train came in”.

LEARNED AND LEARNT

Basically either form is correct. I learned – ed – or "I learnt to drive a truck in the army". Either one is correct. The ed form of the past tense is the regular form - I learned to drive a truck – I learned to cook – and very many past tenses end in this “ed”. And you will find there is a tendency for verbs to become more regular as time goes on. This is a feature of language change. Originally, in British English, everyone would have spelt the past tense of learn with T – I learnt to drive, I learnt to cook, but you’ll find more and more people in the UK now using the ed ending. The same is true of verbs such as spell – as in I spelt it incorrectly – with a T at the end. But now you’ll find more and more people using - I spelled it incorrectly – with an ed at the end. This is probably due to the influence of American English coming into Britain because in the US the ed is used for learn, for spell, for dream for example - I dreamed it with an ed at the end. And you’ll find that this US spelling is starting to replace the original British spelling in British English. The main thing to remember is that both of these forms are correct. However, the important thing for you to do is to choose which one you would like to use, and to use that one consistently. So try to avoid mixing the ed and the t endings. Try to use just the one, but it’s up to you to decide which one you want to use.

EITHER AND NEITHER

I want you to imagine that you are going shopping with your mother, she wants to buy a new blouse. You go to the shop and she sees two blouses that she likes. She holds them up and shows you and asks you which one your prefer, which one should she buy? You look at them and think for a while and you decide that both blouses are good, it doesn't matter which one she buys, both are OK. In this case you could say to your mother - 'Either', 'either one is OK' So 'either' here means in a choice between two things both choices are ok. Now, let's go back to the clothes shop - your mother decides that actually she doesn't like those blouses and chooses two more. These, you think, are both completely wrong. They're not her colour, not her style, she would look terrible - so in this case, you want to tell her that. Remember that either means that both choices would be good - you want the opposite this time - you want a word that means 'not either' - and that word is 'neither',with an 'n', 'neither'. So if both blouses are terrible for your mum, you would say, 'Neither! Neither one is good'. So 'neither' here means that in a choice between two things, both choices are bad. Not one and not the other one. You could also say here, I don't like either. Here we use the word 'either', because the negative meaning is given when we say 'don't', 'I don't like either'. We wouldn't say 'I don't like neither', that would be a double negative and we wouldn't usually say 'I like neither' it's much more natural to say 'I don't like either'. So in this context, trying to choose two things, either and neither are opposites. What is interesting is that although both of these words are talking about a choice between two things, when we use them they are used with a singular verb. So if we look at our examples again: Remember there are two blouses - which one is good? Well, either 'is' Ok. Or neither 'is' OK. It might sound strange to be talking about two things with a singular, but that's really because that 'either' means 'either one' and 'neither' means 'neither one', and 'one', of course is singular. Let's take a look at some of the other ways that these words are used. Either can be paired with the word 'or'. Going back to the shop and the good blouses, let's imagine that one is red and one is blue - you like both of them so you could say. "You could buy either the red one or the blue one". Neither can be paired with nor in a similar way but to join two negative ideas. For example, 'I went to visit my brother but neither he nor his wife was at home'. I'll repeat that - 'I went to visit my brother but neither he nor his wife was at home'. Another example, this time about television watching, 'I neither watch soaps, nor reality TV, but I love dramas' But this does sound a little formal and perhaps it would be more common to say I don't like soaps or reality shows, but I love dramas. Finally, one of the other questions that's often asked about these words is about the pronunciation. Is it either (ai) or either (i:) - and the answer to that - either or either - both pronunciations are used, though in American English either (i:) is perhaps the most usual.

DIDN'T - WOULD'T

Notice the difference: I didn’t go home (it is a simple statement of fact. It’s completely neutral, it’s just giving the information) I wouldn’t go home (it could have two completely different meanings. without a context we can’t know which one it is): The first is, “I wouldn’t go home”, “would” means I refused to go home. People wanted me to go home, people tried to persuade me to go home but I insisted on staying, on not going home, I refused to go home. That’s the first meaning. The second meaning is related to the use of the word ‘would’ to express a habit in the past, something which is done repeatedly. And there “I wouldn’t go home” means that on a large number of occasions I didn’t go home. So perhaps I might be talking about my childhood and I might be talking about the fact that my parents worked and the house was empty at the end of the day so that when I finished school I wouldn’t go home – I’d go to my grandmother’s or to some friend’s houses and I wouldn’t go home. This is a regular habit. We can see ‘would’ as the past of ‘will’ or ‘wouldn’t’ as the past of ‘won’t’ and we do talk about somebody who refuses to do something using ‘won’t’ in the present – not in the future – in the present. ‘She won’t go home’ means she is standing there saying “I’m not going home, I’m staying here”. We use ‘will’ and ‘won’t’ in the present, not in the future, in the present, to express things that happen repeatedly. So, I might say, “when I get up I’ll go, I will go into the bathroom and gargle and swallow some water and clean my throat and make a noise with it every morning”. And there the meaning of will is a present meaning and not a future meaning. I might say, “When I get up, I won’t have breakfast, I’m in too much of a hurry – I go straight to work”, and there that ‘won’t’ – like the ‘wouldn’t’ in ‘wouldn’t go home’ is expressing something that I don’t do on a very regular basis in the present.

HIGH TIME - LET'S

This is often true in English that there are different ways to say more or less the same thing. Which one you use will depend on the situation, who you are talking to and sometimes the way you like to sound, your own style of speaking. Let's look at each of these in a little more detail and describe a situation when they could be used. First, the structure "LET'S" - which is the common short form for "Let us". This is followed by the infinitive of a verb without "to" and is usually an informal suggestion. When it's a suggestion it is often followed by the tag, "shall we?" Imagine that you are at a party, it's quite late at night, you are tired and you have to go to work the next day. You are there together with a friend and because it's late you want to go home. You might say to your friend something like, "Let's go, shall we?" You want to leave and you want your friend to come with you. "Let's go, shall we?" It's not really an order to do something but a polite way of suggesting that you want to leave. If you just say, "LET's GO!" that is more of a polite instruction and suggests that you have made the decision that it's time to leave and you expect the person you are talking to do what you say. It could be a parent talking to his or her children - "Come on kids, let's go". However often there is no real difference between "let's go" and "let's go, shall we?" It really does depend on your tone of voice and the relationship you have with the person you're speaking to. Now, "II'S HIGH TIME WE WENT". This is quite an unusual structure because it has what looks like a simple past form - "went", the past of the verb "to go." - "It's high time we went." - What is unusual about this is that this sentence is not talking about the past at all! There are a number of phrases, all using the word "time" where this happens. We have the example - "It's high time we went", but you could also say: - It's time we went, or - It's about time we went and you can use a continuous form as well: - It's time we were going - It's about time we were going, and - It's high time we were going The past form in these examples is, the subjunctive form of the verb. The subjunctive is often used when we talk about unreal or imagined situations. You can see it clearly in a conditional sentence like this one: "If I were you, I'd change my job" Normally you wouldn't expect to see the form "were" following the pronoun "I". You expect "I" to be followed by "was". But that is only true if the verb form is the past simple. However "I were" as in "If I were you" is the correct form of the past subjunctive which is used here because obviously I am not you and I can't be you - so it's an imagined or unreal situation - "If I were you". And that's the same form that's being used in the expressions after the word 'time'. You can remember the time expressions I mentioned above as fixed expressions and they all have more or less the same meaning. They are quite formal in their use and are stating that it's time that something happened. A parent might say to a child, for example - "it's time you went to bed!" Which means "I want you to go to bed". In the party situation you could say, as I mentioned above, "LET'S GO!" - but you could also say - "It's time we went". You can imagine the person who said that might be looking at their watch and worrying perhaps about catching a train. And if the situation is a little more urgent, we use the expression "IT'S HIGH TIME" which means it's very important that this happens now. Examples "It's high time we left - come on or we'll miss the train" A parent might say to an older child - "It's high time you found a job, young man!" So in summary - - "LET'S GO" is an informal suggestion or a polite instruction - - "IT'S HIGH TIME" - is a formal statement that it is important that something happen soon or that something happen now.