Modal verbs 2 article

Introduction A quick question: Whats the difference in meaning between the underlined words in these sentences? The government must do something about crime in the cities. Thats the doorbell. It must be the postman. This months article is the second of two in which we take a closer look at modal verbs, concentrating on might/may, must/have to and should/ought to. Grammatical syllabuses and descriptions often feature the terms intrinsic and extrinsic in relation to modal verbs, so we begin by explaining what these words mean.

1. The meaning of modals intrinsic and extrinsic Higher-level descriptions of English modal verbs often distinguish between two main types of meaning, described as intrinsic and extrinsic meanings. Intrinsic meanings are those which imply some kind of human control over events, so they include meanings which are often described as permission, willingness and necessity. Extrinsic meanings are those which involve some kind of human judgment about what is or isnt likely to happen, so include meanings which are often described as prediction or possibility. All modal verbs have both intrinsic and extrinsic uses. For instance, an intrinsic use of the modal verb can is in talking about permission, e.g. You can use my phone if you want. but an extrinsic use is in discussing possibility, e.g. Paris can be very hot in summer. Sometimes, the two types of meaning overlap in one particular example. For instance, the modal verb will in I will see you tomorrow. could be said to be combining an intrinsic use to express willingness and an extrinsic use to imply a prediction about the future. In some grammatical descriptions of modals, intrinsic meanings are described as deontic or root, and extrinsic meanings are described as epistemic.

2. May and might: possibility Modal verbs may and might are often used to say that something is possibly true, e.g. That may/might be a better thing to do. I think Charlotte may/might be pregnant.

There may/might be other problems that we dont know about. In informal speech, might is more common than may when talking about what someone will possibly do in the future, e.g. They might buy the house next door. I might go to the party on Saturday. May is more common in more formal descriptions, e.g. This birds young may grow to full size in less than four weeks. Note that may is not usually used in questions which ask about the possibility of something happening or being true, e.g. Are you likely to win? (not *May you win?) Might is sometimes used in this type of question, but sounds rather formal.May/might + have + past participle can be used to talk about a possible event in the past, e.g. Do you think Amy might have arrived by now? and can sometimes be used to talk about a possible event occurring before a time in the future, e.g. It might have been sold by the time we get there. May/might + be + -ing can be used to talk about a possible event in the present, e.g. Im not sure if Helens at home. She might be taking the children to school. and can sometimes be used to talk about a possible event in the future, e.g. I might be taking my exams next Easter. May/might + have + been + -ing can be used to talk about possible events in the past that happened over a period of time, e.g. Jack cant find his gloves. I think he might have been wearing them at the football match yesterday.

3. May and might: permission May (but not might) is sometimes used to talk about permission in formal contexts, e.g. Only food purchased on the premises may be consumed in the restaurant. Calculators may not be used in the examination. You may begin. It is also sometimes used in formal requests for permission, e.g. May I be excused? May we come in?

4. Must and have (got) to: necessity

Must and have to are used to say that it is necessary that something happens or is done, e.g. The chicken must be cooked thoroughly. You have to book in advance. Must is used in stating formal rules and regulations, e.g. The balance must be paid 28 days before departure. Visitors must remove all footwear before entering. and have (got) to is used to describe necessity resulting from a situation and which is not usually the speakers decision. Compare, e.g.: We have to pay the balance a month before we leave. Youve got to take off your shoes before you can go in. Note that have got to is less formal than have to and is more common in spoken English. However, have to is usually used with the past simple, especially for question and negative structures, e.g. We didnt have to wait long. Why did you have to leave?, and also when another modal verb occurs, e.g. Theyll have to pay the money back eventually. When have is contracted however, have got to must be used, e.g. Hes got to work an extra two hours. Note that must has no past, perfect, continuous, infinitive or -ing form, and have to is used instead, e.g. Visitors must remove their shoes. Visitors had to remove their shoes. Must is often used to talk about things which we think will be necessary or enjoyable in the future, e.g. I must phone Mum and Dad tomorrow. You really must try to lose weight. We must have lunch together some time. Have (got) to is more common than must when asking questions about whether something will be necessary. Must in questions sounds rather formal and old-fashioned, e.g. Do we have to wear a uniform? or Have we got to wear a uniform? (not usually Must we wear a uniform?) Dont have to and havent got to can be used to say that something is not necessary, e.g. She doesnt have to wear a uniform. You havent got to answer all the questions. Note however that the negative form mustnt has a different meaning to dont have to or havent got to. Mustnt is used to say that someone should definitely not do something. Compare, e.g. You must/have to wear shoes. (= It is necessary that you wear shoes.) You dont have to wear shoes. (= It is not necessary that you wear shoes.) You mustnt wear shoes. (= It is necessary that you do not wear shoes.)

5. Must and have (got) to: drawing conclusions

Must is sometimes used to draw conclusions about past, present and future events. Must + have + past participle is used to draw a conclusion about something that happened in the past, e.g. I heard that your dog died. It must have been very upsetting. Must + be + -ing is used to draw a conclusion about something happening at the time of speaking, e.g. Helen isnt in. She must be taking the children to school. Must + be is used to draw a conclusion about a present situation, e.g. You didnt get any sleep? You must be absolutely exhausted. Must + be going to or must + be + -ing are sometimes used to draw a conclusion about something that is likely to happen in the future, e.g. Theres a For Sale sign outside. They must be going to move. Theyve sold all their furniture. They must be leaving soon. Have (got) to is sometimes used when someone feels certain that something is true or will happen, e.g. There has to be a better way of doing this. House prices have got to drop at some point.

6. Should and ought to: obligation Should and ought to are often used to talk about obligation, saying what is the right thing to do, e.g. You should/ought to finish your sandwich before you eat a piece of cake. The children shouldnt/oughtnt to drop litter on the floor. They are also often used to give recommendations, saying what is the best or a good thing to do, e.g. He should/ought to cycle to work, the exercise would be good for him. Their cottage is lovely. You should/ought to visit sometime. Note that should is more usual in questions, e.g. Who should I ask? Should I bring sandwiches? Ought to can be used, but sounds rather formal and old-fashioned, e.g. Who ought I to ask? Ought I to bring sandwiches? Should is also usually used when talking about the recommendations of some outside authority, e.g. The computer should be restarted after loading the software. Should/ought to + have + past participle is often used to talk about something that didnt happen and the speaker feels sorry that it didnt happen, e.g. We should/ought to have stood in the other queue, it went down quicker. and shouldnt/oughtnt to + have + past participle is often used to talk about an event or action that happened but which the speaker regrets, e.g.

He shouldnt /oughtnt to have bought that car, its always breaking down.

7. Should and ought to: probability Should and ought to are sometimes used to say that something is probable, indicating that someone expects something to be true or to happen, e.g. We should/ought to be home by 5 oclock. The letter should/ought to arrive by Friday. He should/ought to be feeling better soon. Should/Ought to + have + past participle can be used to talk about something that was expected to happen in the past, e.g. He should/ought to have arrived earlier this morning. or that is expected to happen in the future, e.g. The builders should/ought to have finished the work by the end of this month. Note that when used in this sense, should and ought to almost always occur with verbs and expressions which express a positive meaning and they are not usually used to indicate that we expect something to go wrong, e.g. Her team should/ought to win. vs. * Her team should/ought to lose.

Modal verbs 2 tips and activities Noticing If modal verbs are an area you havent thought much about, start looking out for them yourself in different English texts. Examining modality can give a lot of background information about the speaker or writers impression of the event. For example, what impression does the previous sentence give if you replace the word can with will? What does it give if you delete the can altogether? With your students, this could simply mean underlining different modal verbs in a text and discussing their meaning. More advanced students could also rewrite a text using different modal verbs (in order to sound more confident, or less confident).

Reformulating Many students tend to avoid modals, especially if they dont have them in their own language. When monitoring speaking activities, you could choose to focus only on modal verbs. Listen out for examples of English that could be better replaced by a modal verb, e.g. It is possible that he went to the dentist. Write these on the board at the end of the activity and ask students to reformulate them using a modal verb.

You could also do this with samples of students writing.

Activity: agony aunt variations One of the most popular and common activities to practise the modal verbs should (and sometimes ought to) are situations in which people ask for advice. Many newspapers have agony aunt columns (sometimes called Dear Abby columns in North America). There are two ways you can use these in class. 1. Find some original letters and their answers on the Internet. You can do this by entering agony aunt or dear abby on a search engine. Select some questions and the answers given (better if they are short). Mix up the questions and the answers and distribute them to the students, who have to match them. When they have finished, ask them to go through and find any modal verbs in the text. As a follow up, ask students to write their own advice to those people. 2. Ask students to each write about a problem they have (real or imaginary) that they would like advice on. They should write these on a slip of paper, but not write their name. Collect all the slips of paper and put the students into groups of four. Give each group four problems at random. Tell them to select two and give advice to the writer about their problem (including modal verbs such as should, ought to, shouldnt etc). When groups have finished, ask them to read out the problem and the advice. Activity: regrets To practise should have you could ask students to think about regrets theyve had in the past. To get them started, give a few examples of your own, e.g.

I should have visited my grandparents more. I shouldnt have started smoking. I really should have learnt another language when I was young. Write on the board the sentence stems: I should have I shouldnt have I really should have Ask students to complete the sentences for themselves. Tell them that these should be regrets that they dont mind sharing with others. When they have finished, ask them to work in pairs and compare their sentences. As a follow up you can make this into an instant roleplay. Tell students to work with a new partner and explain the following situation: You are the presidential candidate for your country. You have just lost the election. You are speaking to one of your aides. Ask students to think of ways of completing the sentence stems above.

Activity: modal verb drill To focus on form and meaning, you can set up a drill like the following. Write on the board the words:

POSSIBLE IMPOSSIBLE

CERTAIN Say different phrases and show how the sentence changes depending on if its possible, impossible or certain, e.g. We go out. (point to CERTAIN) Well go out. We stay at home. (point to IMPOSSIBLE) We cant stay at home. We go to the cinema. (point to POSSIBLE) We might go to the cinema. Continue, giving other cues. These cues could be spoken, or written on cards, which you can show the students, e.g. I have a drink. (CERTAIN) I have coffee. (IMPOSSIBLE) I have tea. (POSSIBLE) We work tonight. (POSSIBLE) You work tonight. (IMPOSSIBLE) I work tonight. (CERTAIN) Prepare six to twelve more examples.

Activity: jump to conclusions Tell the students you are going to describe a situation that is open to interpretation (see box for examples). When you finish, ask them to work in pairs and make as many sentences as possible as to what may have happened. For this they should use modal verb + have + past participle, e.g. When I arrived at school today, there were papers all over the floor in the hall and the directors office. Possible conclusions:

There may have been a break-in. The director might have gone crazy and thrown the papers around. Some students may have played a joke. The director must have been furious. Possible situations: You were stuck in traffic for two hours. You heard loud dance music coming from the staff room. No students came to class. When you walked in, all the students started laughing. X (a students name) was fifteen minutes late. Activity: those are the rules One activity to get students to practise modal verbs of obligation is to ask them to make rules. Here are some ways of doing it:

1. Ask students to work in groups. Give each group the name of a place (e.g. library, swimming pool, jail, school, bus, amusement park) and ask them to write rules for this place (using must, mustnt, have to and dont have to). When they finish, groups read out their rules and the others guess the place. 2. Ask students to work in small groups or pairs. Ask them to imagine that they are in charge of designing the rules for a perfect language school. They should include what the students and teacher should do, mustnt do and can do. At the end of the activity, ask different groups to read out their rules (or post them on the wall). Who has the best school? 3. Prepare a series of sentences about typical rules in society (see below for examples) and ask students to complete them with a modal verb so that they are true for their country, e.g. You ____________ vote in elections. You ____________ drink alcohol at the age of 18. You ____________ get married at the age of 15. You ____________ drive a car at the age of 14. You ____________ do military service when you are 18.