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Modal Verbs

modal verbs

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8 views8 pages

Modal Verbs

modal verbs

Uploaded by

oliviavedoya2007
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MODAL

VERBS
Unit 4: Grammar
Modal verbs for speculation in the present
and future
1. Will

2. Must and can’t

3. Should

4. May

5. Might

6. Could
Modal verbs for
speculation in the
present and future
1. Will / won’t
- To predict a future event which is seen as certain.
- To express a strongly belief about the present. Assumption based on
knowledge.

2. Must and can’t


- Must: we have a lot of evidence but les certain than will
Can’t: negative form of must

3. Should / shouldn’t
- To express what may reasonably be expected to happen.
Modal verbs for
speculation in the
present and future
• 4. May (not)
- To express the possibility that something will happen or is already happening.

5. Might (not)
- To express a possibility but in a more tentative way

6. Could
- Used in a similar way to might
- Negative couldl not is not used to express future possibility. Might not is the negative of
could in this use
- The negative couldn’t has a similar meaning to can’t

7. Can
- To express what is generally and all-time true
- Can → not used to predict future possibility. We use “will be possible” or “will be able to”
Modal auxiliaries in the past

MODAL VERB + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

E.g.:
• It won’t have been Peter you met at the party. He wasn’t invited. It
must have been Simon. He looks very like Peter.
• It can’t have been a very interesting party. No one seems to have
enjoyed it.
Other uses of modal vebrs: present and past
• Obligation
- Strong obligation: Must / have to // had to → past
- Negative obligation: mustn’t

- Absence of obligation: don’t have to / needn’t (+ infinitive)


Two forms of needn’t in the past:
1. Needn’t have + past participle → action completed but wasn’t necessary
2. Didn’t need to + infinitive → action that was not necessary, but we don’t
know if it was completed or not
Other uses of modal vebrs: present and past
• Advice or milder obligation:
- Should
- Should have + past participle → past
• Permission:
- Can
- Could
- May (more formal than could)
- Might (extremely formal and also used sarcastically)
Was allowed to → past of may and can. I was allowed to do whatever I wanted when I was
young.
Could → only to report permission. My parents said I could stay out until midnight
Other uses of modal vebrs: present and past
• Ability:
- Can
- Could → past
- Was able to / managed to → express a particular ability on one occasion in the past
• Refusal and willingness:
- Won’t
- Wouldn’t → past
• Habit / characteristic behaviour:
- Will. He will sit for hours staring into the fire.
- Would → past. My grandma would always bring a present when she came to visit
*If will is stressed, it suggests criticism and irritation. David will leave his homework until
the last minute. It’s infuriating

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