Modal auxiliaries for regret

Hi welcome to New English Academy. My name’s Giles Parker and I am your host for this podcast. Today we’re going to focus on 3 different modal auxiliaries to express regret. The listening text is called ‘Buyer’s Remorse’. I’ll tell you more about that in a bit. This lesson is aimed at advanced level students but anyone can try it.

First, I’ll explain about the grammar point then you can practice your listening and reading. Don’t forget to check out the website New English Academy.com for more great interactive online English learning activities.

Modal auxiliaries, or helping verbs, if you like, are words that add extra colour and dimensions to verbs. You know how in English verbs always show us who did what and when, well modal auxiliaries give extra information and detail to the verb. So they say who did what but give extra information about the ability of someone to do something by using can or could or about the possibility of something by using may or might, or the obligation of something by using must.

Sometimes you want to talk about the past, about something that happened, but you don’t feel good about what happened. In fact you feel pretty bad about it. You want the past to be different so the present can be different too. This kind of feeling is regret – you regret doing something, or you regret not doing something when something bad happened that you don’t like.

We can use some really useful modal auxiliaries to show this extra colour, to express regret.  When you feel there is some kind of reason or obligation that something did or didn’t happen, like when you know what is best to do but you don’t do it, then you can use should have + verb (pp). This is regret plus a sense of obligation. For example –

· You should have told me you were going to come today – you shouldn’t have stayed quiet about it.

Be careful with the pronunciation and writing – should have can be reduced to should’ve or shoulda, but please don’t write should of. That’s just not correct English.

Another kind of regret is when you feel bad that you didn’t have the power or the ability to do something – regret plus a sense of ability. Use, could have + verb (pp) to show you regret not being able to do something. For example,

· I could have gone anywhere. I couldn’t have stayed in one place.

Again check your pronunciation and writing – it’s OK to say could’ve or coulda, but NOT good English to write could of. Many native speakers will write it but perhaps they need to take lessons with New English Academy!

The last kind of regret we’re going to practice today is when you regret something and wish that it could be different – you have a desire for change, which of course is impossible – we can’t change the past. When you wish the past was different you use wish + had + verb (pp). For example –

· I wish I’d listened to what my mother said…I wish I hadn’t blown her off like that.

Be careful with speakers of American English – they’ll often say “I wish I would have…â€, or “I wish I woulda…†instead of  “I wish I had…â€

OK, so just to summarize today’s grammar point,

1) you can use should’ve to express regret and a sense of obligation that you knew what it would be best to do but didn’t do it.

2) you can use could’ve to express regret about a lack of ability to do something, and

3) you can use I wish I had, or would’ve or woulda to express regret and a desire for impossible change.

I hope you noticed that all these modals need the verb in the past participle – that’s kind of why it is more for advanced  learners than others. You need to learn the past participles – there is no easy way around that one, sorry guys!

You’re going to hear (and read) examples of these modal auxiliaries in the text. Try to see what the contexts are. The text talks about buyer’s remorse, which is kind of another way of saying buyer’s regret, you know, what you feel something when you buy something and then have doubts about it. The vocabulary that is underlined in the transcript is explained in more detail with pronunciation practice on the website, New English Academy.com. You can also find great online activities, games and tests there too. Here we go with the text.

Comprehension text - Buyer’s remorse

You know how it is. You’ve been out shopping and you have made an impulse buy. Now, back at home, you are looking at your new purchase and second guessing yourself. Did you pay too much? Should you have shopped around a bit more? Couldn’t you have waited until the sales? You shouldn’t have listened to that clever salesman…but now, you have a new, expensive item, and maybe a small sense of regret that you bought it. Welcome to buyer’s remorse!

It is too easy to make a snap decision, either online or in the shops. After all, this is what sales-people and websites are oriented to do. They don’t want you to think too long or hard about your purchase. They want you to hand over the money ASAP so they can get on with selling to another person. They don’t think about your small moment of self-doubt when you get home with your new high-end computer, Italian brand-name handbag or time-share in a condo somewhere by the sea. This is the moment when you wonder what else you could have done with that money – the opportunity cost. This is when you think about how you really should have used it, like saving for your kid’s education.

Well, maybe you wouldn’t have bought that American pony car if you hadn’t gone to the garage for an oil change for your Nissan Micra. Maybe you wouldn’t have paid for a year’s worth of tennis classes at the gym if the instructor hadn’t been so cute. And maybe you shouldn’t have bought that dress because now you think you’ll never be thin enough to wear it. But, what are you going to do?

There are ways to fend off buyer’s remorse. Common sense says try just being more self-confident.  You could plan ahead, or stick to a budget. You could do due diligence and scout the market first. You could even just quit making impulse buys. But hey! Where’s the fun in all that? Buyer’s remorse is only brief. Once you slide back into that Mustang, or step out your door with your new glamorous Gucci bag then you realize why you bought it in the first place. And you think maybe you should have got it earlier…