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Modal Verbs

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15 views12 pages

Modal Verbs

Uploaded by

monica
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MODAL VERBS

BY MÓNICA MEDINA MARÍN


CAN
• Ability to do sth. in the present (substitute form: to be able to) : I can speak English.

• Permission to do sth. in the present (substitute form: to be allowed to) : Can I go to the cinema?

• Request : Can you wait a moment, please?

• Offer : I can lend you my car till tomorrow.

• Suggestion : Can we visit Grandma at the weekend?

• Possibility : It can get very hot in Arizona.


COULD
Ability to do sth. in the past (substitute form: to be able to) : I could speak English.

Permission to do sth. in the past (substitute form: to be allowed to ) : I could go to the cinema.

Polite question * : Could I go to the cinema, please?

Polite request *: Could you wait a moment, please?

Polite offer *: I could lend you my car till tomorrow.

Polite suggestion *: Could we visit Grandma at the weekend?

Possibility *: It could get very hot in Montana.

* no past forms - future forms


BE ABLE TO
• Ability when can cannot be used (e.g., future) : She will be able to pass the exam.

• Ability when can cannot be used (e.g. perfect tenses): They have been able to complete the
crossword.
MAY & MIGHT
MAY
• Possibility : It may rain today.

• Permission to do sth. in the present (substitute form: to be allowed to) : May I go to the cinema?

• Polite suggestion : May I help you?

MIGHT
• possibility (less possible than may) *: It might rain today.

• hesitant offer * : Might I help you?


MUST/ MUSTN´T
MUST
• Force, necessity: I must go to the supermarket today, the fridge is empty.

• Deductions: She got a 9 in Maths. She must be very happy. (She can’t be sad)

• Obligation (speaker’s point of view): You must go to the dentist.

• May / be allowed to when must sounds “too strong”: Guests may not use the pool after 11pm.

Women aren’t allowed to drive in some Arab countries.

MUSTN´T
• Prohibition: You mustn't work on dad's computer.
HAVE TO/ NEEDN´T
HAVE TO
• Obligation (when it comes “from the outside”) : Everybody has to wear the safety belt.

• Don’t / doesn’t have to = it is not obligatory : You don’t have to help tomorrow.

My mother is coming to help me.

NEEDN´T
NOT NECESSARY

Modal verb: I needn't go to the supermarket, we're going to the restaurant tonight.

Ordinary verb: I don’t need to go to the supermarket, we’re going to the restaurant tonight.
SHOULD/OUGHT TO
SHOULD
• Advice: You should drive carefully in bad weather.

• Opinions: You shouldn’t visit María now. She has just come from hospital.

OUGHT TO
• Advice: You ought to drive carefully in bad weather.

Not used in Negative and Interrogative sentences


WILL
• Wish, request, demand, order (less polite than would): Will you please shut the door?

• Prediction, assumption: I think it will rain on Friday.

• Promise: I will stop smoking.

• Spontaneous decision: Can somebody drive me to the station? - I will.

• Habits: She's strange, she'll sit for hours without talking.


SHALL/WOULD

SHALL
• Suggestion/ Offer (instead of will in 1st person): Shall I carry your bag?

WOULD
• Wish, request (more polite than will): Would you shut the door, please?

• Habits in the past: Sometimes he would bring me some flowers.


PERFECT MODALS: (Modal + Present Perfect)

• COULD HAVE + part. : saying that something could have


happened but didn’t happen.

“Peter was lucky. He could have hurt himself when he fell but
he is ok now”.
• COULDN’T/CAN’T HAVE + part. : being certain that something
was not possible in the past.

“We had a really good holiday. It couldn’t have been better”.


• MUST HAVE + part. : being certain that something has happened.

“I have lost one of my gloves. I must have dropped it


somewhere”.
PERFECT MODALS: (Modal + Present Perfect)

• MAY/MIGHT HAVE + part. : possibility in the past

“You may/might have left the bag in the shop”.

• NEEDN’T HAVE + part. : You did something that was not necessary.

“You needn’t have brought anything to my party”.

• OUGHT TO/SHOULD HAVE + part. : when you should have done something.

“You missed a great party last night. You should/ought to have come”.

• WOULD HAVE + part. : imaginary situations in the past.

“I would have phoned Marta, but I didn’t have her number”.

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