Unit 32. Must, mustn't, needn't.

Unit 32; Part A

Must    mustn't    needn't
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

Instead of needn't, you can use don't / doesn't need to. So you can say:

• 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

Needn't have (done)
Study this example situation:
32.1.jpg

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

Didn't need to (do) and needn't have (done)
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

1 Complete the sentences using needn't + verb:

Complete the sentences using needn't + the following verbs:

ask come explain ~~leave~~ tell walk

1    We've got plenty of time. We    needn't leave    yet.
2    I can manage the shopping alone. You _____________ with me.
3    We _____________ all the way home. We can get a taxi.
4    Just help yourself if you'd like more to eat. You _____________ first.
5    We can keep this a secret between ourselves. We _____________ anybody else.
6    I understand the situation perfectly. You _____________ further.

2 Complete the sentences with must, mustn't or needn't.

Complete the sentences with must, mustn't or needn't.

1    We haven't got much time. We    must    hurry.
2    We've got plenty of time. We    needn't    hurry.
3    We have enough food at home, so we __________ go shopping today.
4    Gary gave me a letter to post. I __________ remember to post it.
5    Gary gave me a letter to post. I __________ forget to post it.
6    There's plenty of time for you to make up your mind. You __________ decide now.
7    You __________ wash those tomatoes. They've already been washed.
8    This is a valuable book. You __________ look after it carefully and you __________ lose it.
9    A: What sort of house do you want to buy? Something big?
      B: Well, it __________ be big - that's not so important. But it __________ have a nice garden - that's essential.

3 Read the situations and make sentences with needn't have.

Read the situations and make sentences with needn't have.

1    Paul went out. He took an umbrella because he thought it was going to rain. But it didn't rain.
       He needn't have taken an umbrella.
2    Linda bought some eggs when she went shopping. When she got home, she found that she already had plenty of eggs.
      She ____________________________________
3    A collegue got angry with you at work. He shouted at you, which you think was unnecessary. Later you say to him:
      You ____________________________________
4    Brian had money problems, so he sold his car. A few days later he won some money in a lottery.
He ____________________________________
5    We took a camcorder with us on holiday, but we didn't use it in the end.
      We ____________________________________
6   I thought I was going to miss my train, so I rushed to the station. Butthe train was late and in the end I had to wait twenty minutes
   _______________________________________

4 Write two sentences for each situation.

Write two sentences for each situation. Use needn't have in the first sentence and could have in the second (as in the example). For could have, see Unit 27.

1    Why did you rush? Why didn't you take your time?
      You needn't have rushed. You could have taken your time.
2    Why did you walk home? Why didn't you take a taxi?
      _______________________________________________________
3    Why did you stay at a hotel? Why didn't you stay with us?
      _______________________________________________________
4    Why did she phone me in the middle of the night? Why didn't she wait until the morning?
      _______________________________________________________
5 Why did you leave without saying anything? Why didn't you say goodbye?
      _______________________________________________________

Unit 31 Unit 32 Unit 33

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