The importance of modal verbs

Lefter Călin
Cls X B
The modal verbs or other modal expressions are used when we
want to express an opinion or attitude about a possible fact or to
control a possible action. All modal expressions are about the
speaker’s or writer’s view of the world.
The modal verbs of English are a small class of auxiliary verbs used
mostly to express modality . They can be distinguished from other
verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle or
infinitive forms) and by the fact that they do not take the ending -
(e)s in the third-person singular.
Modal verbs help when speaking about ability, making requests
and offers, asking permission, and more. The modal verbs in English
differ from other verbs, because they are not used separately, and
do not indicate a specific action or state, they just reflect its
modality, the attitude of the speaker to the action.
There are several modal verbs in English language:
 May / Might
 Have to / Have got to
 Can / Could
 Must
 Need
 Should
 Be to
  Will
 Ought to
 Would
 Used to
 Dare
 Shall
The most commonly used are three: Can, May and Must. These
verbs have the most common meaning, and can sometimes
substitute the other modals. Interrogative sentences with modal
verbs are formed without an auxiliary verb to do, where a modal
verb is put at the beginning of the sentence
Modal verbs are commonly used a lot in every day language , this is
an example:
Paula can’t be home yet. It’s impossible. She left 10 minutes after
us.
The speaker decides how certain something is, either in the
present, future or past. They predict or speculate about a fact. We
see this type of meaning when we talk about degrees of certainty,
possibility, likelihood, doubt.
Also most of the modals are used in contracts because of the
possibility , authority or permission.
When using a modal you have to take in mind:
 Most modal verbs cannot be used in past/future tenses
 Modals do not have -s endings in 3rd person present tense
 “NOT” is used to make modal verb negative