Second Year Grammar 2013

Shoak Al-Husami

Chapter Four
Modal Verbs
Modals are always used with other verbs. They are a special kind of auxiliary verbs.

Uses of Modals

1. Attitude to information
When you are giving information, you sometimes use modals to indicate how certain you are
that what you are saying is true or correct.
2. Attitude to intentions
You can use modals to indicate your attitude towards the things you intend to do or not to do.
3. Attitude to people
Modals are often used to produce a particular effect, and the modal you choose depends on
several factors, such as the relationship you have with your listener, the formality or informality
of the situation, and the importance of what you are saying.

Features of Modals
1. They are followed by the basis form of the verb if there is no auxiliary verb present.
Example: [Yes, you may borrow my notes for tonight.]
Note: if one of the auxiliary verbs have or be follows the modal verb, the main verb will take the
appropriate present or past form. Example: [ Julian might be coming too.]
2. Unlike other verbs, modals don't inflect, i.e. they don't have -s, -ing, or -d forms.
Example: [She must leave not.]
Note: since modals don't have past tense forms, you have to use other verbs to provide some of
the modal meanings in the past, for example, past necessity is expressed by had to instead of
must.
3. Modals don't have to infinitive.
4. Modals are used in question tags. Example: [They cannot be serious, can they?]
5. In negative questions, the modal comes in front of the subject, and the negative particle not
follows the subject. Example: [Will he not be calling this week?]
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Second Year Grammar 2013

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The Contracted Forms of

Modals
{Can't, won't, wouldn't} are used in both spoken & written English.
The contracted form 'll of shall & will is used in spoken English.

Note: there are other contracted forms such as he'll, we'll, shan't, and they'll, which are
common in spoken English but rare in written English.
Semi-modals: are modals that can be sometimes used as verbs and other times as modals, such
as need and dare. Examples: [How dare she!]

[I don't dare go near that dog.]

Modal Verbs

Can and could

Both verbs indicate ability in some respect. Could is usually used to
refer to past time.

Uses:

English
Modals
1. Can and could
2. Shall and will
3. May and might
4. Must
5. Should
6. Would
7. Ought to

1. To indicate that you have a skill or ability or you know how to do something. Example:
[She cannot play piano, but she can dance.]
2. To make polite requests or to ask for permission: Could is more tentative than can. Example:
[Could I use your phone?]
3. To express the possibility of an action in the future when it's related to plans or projects.
Example: [We can go to the seaside next week since you are free.]
Note: may is used to refer that the possibility is still uncertain in the future. Example: [We may
go to the seaside but it depends on our finances.]
4.To express the possibility of an action in the present. Example: [Be careful with those matches!
You can hurt yourself.]
5. To talk about action that were possible but didn't happen, using could + have.
Example: [My mother could have stopped the fight between us but she didn't interfere.]
6. Using could + have, to speculate about things that have recently taken place. Example:
[Who could have broken the door lock?]
7. To make suggestions. Example: [You could get your mother a scarf on mother's day.]
- A distinction between can and could is observed in conditionals. Could is used when the
conditions are not met. Example: [If Huda had more money, she could buy a computer.]
- When changing sentences from direct to reported speech, can is usually changed to could.
Example:
[Betty said, "I can do it for you, Susan."]
[Betty said that she could do it for Susan.]
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Second Year Grammar 2013

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Shall and will

Uses of Shall:
1. Questions involving I and we to make a suggestion. Example: [Shall we go out for a walk?]
2. With I and we to show intention and make promises. Example: [We shall/will be in touch.]
3. With he, she, it, you, and they, to show willingness. Example: [He shall be well treated.]
4. To show insistence. Full forms are usually used and stressed in speech. Example:
[You shall do what I ask you to do!]

Uses of Will:

1. Everywhere that shall can be used, except for questions with I and we.
2. To give orders. Example: [Lina, will you please go to sleep!]
3. To show persistence (full form with stress). Example: [The children will argue with their
mother, no matter what.]
4. To show prediction. Example: [The exam will be finished by now.]
5. To make polite requests & to give invitations. Example: [Will you help me look for my watch?]

Uses of Should:
1. To indicate moral obligation. Example: [The rich should help the poor.]
2. To give advice or instructions. Example: [You should keep your ID card in a safe place.]
3. To suggest that something follows on logically from what has just been said. Example:
[ Thy left Damascus at 6 o'clock; they should be in Aleppo by now.]
4. In a conditional clause to show politeness. (In formal written communication)
Example: [If you should decide to go, please contact us.]
5. Should + have + v3 to express regret or annoyance about something that was done or not.
Example: [You should have told me you were going away.]

Uses of Would:
1. To signal a polite request. Example: [Would you mind shutting the window?]
2. To offer something politely. Example: [Would you like a cold drink?]
3. To make a polite form of want, using would + like. Example: [We would like to see the
manager, please.]
4. To refer to characteristic activity to mean used to.
Example: [ Janet would eat sweets all day no wonder she is fat.]
5. To show persistence in an activity. Also to answer a complaint. Example: [He would keep
nagging at his mother, thought I advised him not to.]
6. To express and ask about a probability. Example: [That man would be our neighbour's
gardener.]
7. With an if clause, to suggest what the speaker believes would take place in certain
circumstance. Example: [I wouldn't refuse if you had asked me to type it for you.]

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Second Year Grammar 2013

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May and might

Uses:
1. May is used to ask permission in a more formal way than can.
Example: [Dr. Fox, may I borrow your lecture notes, please?]
Note: might is also sometimes used to ask permissions, especially when the speaker is not sure
about the response. Example: [Might I bring my friend with me to your party?]
2. May is used to give permission, particularly when applied to you, he, she, they, or a proper
noun, to show that the speaker is allowing something to happen.
Example: [You may watch the film since you have finished your homework.]
3. To express possibility of some future action, might is more tentative than may.
Example: [It may/might snow tonight.]
4. May is used for politeness, to make an order appear as a request; might is used to make the
speaker more remote from the request.
Examples: [May I take a few minutes of your time?]
[Might I have a word with you?]
5. Might is used when someone is trying to persuade another one to do something, perhaps with
some degree of irritation. Example: [Peter, you might tell me what he said. I want to know.]
Note: It can also be used for a casual request. Example: [If you're going out, might I ask you to get
me some bread?]
6. When might is used in a conditional sentence, the if clause can be in the present or the past
tense. Example: [If she comes/came, she might baby sit for us.]
Must

Uses:
1. To express obligation. Example: [All the participants must report at the enquiry desk before
the conference.]
2. To give orders firmly and positively. Example: [You must get to work on time.]
3. To give advice or make recommendations emphatically. Example: [You really must read
Shakespeare's Hamlet It's very good.]
4. To express a positive assumption that the speaker is making about the truth of something.
Example: [There must be a mistake; it cannot be me.]
5. Give definite prohibition using must + not. Example: [You must not smoke in public.]
Note: Changing must to have to in the reported speech. Example: [Amal said she had to visit her
grandparents.]
6. You can use must with a negative to talk about an event or state that is unacceptable.
Example: [There mustn't be a mistake.]

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Second Year Grammar 2013

Shoak Al-Husami

Ought to

Uses:
1. To express an obligation or expectation that someone should do something.
Example: [Children ought to learn to clean their teeth regularly.]
2. To express the likelihood of something happening.
Example: [They ought to finish cooking lunch soon.]
3. Ought to + have + v3 is used to express regret that something wasn't done or to reproach
someone for something done or not done.
Example: [I ought to have told you earlier. I am sorry I didn't.]
Note: the use of ought to is less strong than should or must.
Note: In questions should is frequently used instead of ought to because it sounds more natural.
Example: [Ought I report it to his parents?]
[Should I report it to his parents?]

The distinction between ought to, should and must

To give general advice, use ought to:

[You ought to consider the feelings of others.]
To add a reproach, use should:
[You really should be more considerate in future.]
To be insistence or to suggest a threat, use must:
[You must consider the feelings of others.]

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