Unit 32. Must, mustn't, needn't.
Unit 32; Part A

You must do something = it is necessary that you do it:
• Don't tell anybody what I said. You must keep it a secret.
• We haven't got much time. We must hurry.
You mustn't do something = it is necessary that you do not do it (so don't do it):
• You must keep it a secret. You mustn't tell anybody else. (= don't tell anybody else)
• We must be very quiet. We mustn't make any noise.
You needn't do something = you don't need to do it (but you can if you like):
• You can come with me if you like, but you needn't come if you don't want to. (= it is not necessary for you to come)
• We've got plenty of time. We needn't hurry. (= it is not necessary to hurry)
Unit 32; Part B

• We needn't hurry. or We don't need to hurry.
Remember that we say don't need to do, but needn't do (without to).
Unit 32; Part C
![]() Study this example situation: ![]() |
Compare needn't (do) and needn't have (done): • Everything will be OK. You needn't worry. (it's not necessary) • Everything was OK. You needn't have worried. (you worried, but it was not necessary) |
Unit 32; Part D

I didn't need to ... = it was not necessary for me to ... (and I knew this at the time):
• I didn't need to get up early, so I didn't.
• I didn't need to get up early, but it was a lovely morning, so I did.
I didn't have to ... is also possible in these examples.
I needn't have done something = I did it, but now I know that it was not necessary:
• I got up very early because I had to get ready to go away. But in fact it didn't take me long to get ready. So, I needn't have got up so early. I could have stayed in bed longer.
Exercises
![]() | Unit 31 Unit 32 Unit 33 | ![]() |
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