Your ten sentences
Read out your five "against the rules" and five "merely unwise" sentences. Your teacher will say which modal they would have chosen for each.
One prediction before you read anything.
1. Which set of rules is harder for a newcomer — the written ones or the unwritten ones?
Three people, three workplaces
Read all three. Then underline every modal, and mark it R for rule or N for norm.
Bea · a hospital
The written ones are simple. You must be on the ward at seven. You mustn't leave until the handover is done, whatever time that is. You have to log everything, and you have to log it as you go, not at the end.
The unwritten ones are harder. You should offer to make tea in the first week even though nobody will ask. You shouldn't sit in the chair nearest the window in the break room — it belongs to somebody, and nobody will tell you whose.
Tomás · a design studio
There are almost no written rules, which sounds good and is actually harder. You don't have to be in at any particular time. You can work from home whenever you want.
So the norms do all the work. You should reply to messages within about an hour, and you shouldn't be invisible for a whole afternoon. Nobody has ever said either of those things out loud.
And you mustn't miss the Monday meeting. That is the one hard rule, and it is not written down anywhere either.
Ines · a school
You have to be in by half past eight, and you mustn't leave a class unsupervised, ever. Those two are absolute.
You don't have to eat lunch in the staff room. But if you never do, people notice within a fortnight.
And you should learn the caretaker's name in the first week. Everybody who does not regret it.
Work from all three.
1. Which modals do all three use for written rules?
2. And for the unwritten ones?
3. Tomás says you mustn't miss the Monday meeting and then says it is not written down. Is that a contradiction?
4. Tomás has fewer written rules than the other two. Is his workplace easier?
Match each line to what it is. Three are absolute, three are expectations.
Talking about obligation politely
Softening an obligation
| Blunt | Softer | When |
|---|---|---|
| You must do it. | You will need to do it. | Telling somebody about a requirement |
| You mustn't do that. | I'm afraid you can't do that. | Refusing, to a colleague |
| You have to be here at eight. | We're expected to be in by eight. | Including yourself in the rule |
| You should do it. | It's probably worth doing. | Advice to somebody senior to you |
| Do it. | Could you…? · Would you mind…? | Asking, not instructing |
The we move. We are expected to be in by eight tells the new person exactly what you have to be in by eight does — and puts you inside the rule with them rather than above it.
The sound. Have to is said /hæftə/ — one word, with an /f/. Has to is /hæstə/. If you say have… to… as two clear words it sounds like emphasis, as though you are insisting.
Match each blunt version to its softer equivalent.
Soften them
Five blunt instructions to a new colleague. Rewrite each one so you could actually say it.
1. You must clock in at eight.
2. You mustn't sit there.
3. Send me the report.
4. You should not eat at your desk.
5. You have to go to the Friday drinks.
One or two words per gap. Complete the briefing.
So, the actual rules: we be in by half past eight, and you leave a class on its own, ever — that one is legal. Everything else is softer. You eat in the staff room, but if you never do, people notice. You learn the caretaker's name in the first week, honestly. Nobody will tell you that and everybody who does not it.
Brief them properly
Task card · Speaking
The same new colleague, but this time you are being tactful.
Two minutes. Written rules first, then unwritten ones, and every obligation softened.
- The absolute rules can be blunt — safety and legal requirements should be.
- Everything else uses we, it is worth, or a question.
- Say have to as one word. Your teacher will stop you if it sounds like two.
- Then they ask three awkward questions — things that are technically allowed and socially unwise.
One decision.
1. You want to tell a new colleague when people arrive. Which?
How it landed
Answer about the two minutes.
1. Did you soften the obligations?
2. Did have to come out as one word or two?
Before the contrast
One question.
1. Does mustn't mean the rule is written down?
Before Lesson 3. Write ten sentences about your workplace using ten different modals or modal phrases. Any ten.
Do not check anything. Next lesson we go through them, and the ones where the modal says something you did not mean are the lesson.