Page 80 - Basic English Usage

93 -— 95 80

93 country

Country (countable) = ‘nation’, ‘land’.
Scotiand is a co/d country.
France is the country | know best.
How many countries are there in Europe?

The country (uncountable) = ‘open land without many buildings’ (the
opposite of the town).
With this meaning, we cannot say a country or countries (see 92 for the
use of uncountable nouns).
My parents live in the country near Edinburgh.
Would you rather live in the town or the country?

94 dare

Dare is used in two ways:
as an ordinary verb, followed by the infinitive with fo.
He dares to say what he thinks.
She didn’t dare to tell him.
as amodal auxiliary verb (see 202)
Dare she tell him? : (question and negative without do;
! daren’t say what | think. third person without -s;
following infinitive without fo.)

In modern English, we usually use dare as an ordinary verb. It is most
common in negative sentences.
She doesn’t dare to go out at night.
They didn’t dare to open the door.
We can use the modal auxiliary form daren'tto say that somebody is
afraid to do something at the moment of speaking.
| daren’t look.

| dare say = ‘| think probably’, ‘| suppose’.
I dare say it'll rain tomorrow.
I dare say you're ready for a drink.

95 dates

Writing
A common way to write the day’s date is like this:
30 March 1983 27 July 1984