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7596modal Auxiliaries - Revised
7596modal Auxiliaries - Revised
Modal auxiliaries are also sometimes called modal verbs or modals. The
following are modal auxiliaries:
FORM
Present Past form
* Positive: subject + modal :
Pure
/ must see you tomorrow.
Modals We must go now.
I could hear the dog barking outside. (modal + simple bare infinitive)
You must have been waiting for hours. (modal + perfect continuous
bare infinitive)
The forms of pure modals
The main characteristics of the pure modals are:
they never change their form irrespective of the subject of the sentence
e.g. he can swim, not *he cans swim
following on from the above feature, they do not change to show past tense
e.g. she had to leave not *she musted leave
they all carry the negative of the sentence by the addition of not/n't
e.g. I can't remember not *I don't can remember
they all form questions by inversion with the subject of the sentence.
e.g. should I stay?
they are all followed by the base form of the verb without the addition of to
e.g. he can swim not *he can to swim
Contracted forms of will and would are often used in spoken and in informal
written language ('ll and 'd):
I'd tell you if I knew.
They'll be here soon.
Modal verbs take no -s in the third person singular:
He might be at the office.
Modal verbs form their negative and interrogative like other auxiliaries and
not with do:
I can't swim.
Can you swim?
The following contracted negative forms are often used
in spoken and in informal written language:
cannot » can't
could not » couldn't
might not » mightn't
will not » won't
shall not » shan't
would not » wouldn't
should not » shouldn't
must not » mustn't
Modal verbs have no proper past tense;
however, could, would, might and should
may be used to refer to past time:
Modal verbs are placed first in the verb phrase (after the subject)
and are followed by a verb in the base form. The next verb may be a
main verb or an auxiliary verb (be, have):
Modal verbs do not change form for tense or person. Modal verbs
can be followed by the substitute verb do:
Warning:
Negatives are formed by adding ‘not’ after the modal
verbs. We don’t use don’t/doesn’t/didn’t with modal
verbs:
Will it be a problem?
Not: Does it will be a problem?
She can sing really well. I can come and see you next week.
I can't swim so I won't come to the pool with you. He could read when he was four.
I couldn't understand the language when I first came here.
• Can and could refer to the ability to do something, but not to the doing of it.
• We use be able for different grammatical forms that are not possible with can:
I like being able to work at home.
We'd like to be able to help you but we can't.
I've been able to work much faster since I got that new computer.
• We use can, could and could have in conditional sentences. We also use them
in sentences with an implied condition:
/ can help you if you want me to.
I could do it if I had the time.
You could do that job easily, (if you had that job)
I couldn't have done it if I hadn't had your help.
Practice
* Complete the sentences with the correct form of can, could or be able. If it is
possible to use can/could or be able, use can/could.
• To talk about something that it is possible to do at any time, use can or may.
With this use, can and may are often followed by the passive infinitive:
• To talk about a future possibility, use may or might. We can also use could;
could refers to a theoretical possibility:
• To talk about possibility in the past, use may, might or could + perfect
infinitive (simple or continuous):
Jane's not at home so she must be on her way here. The office is closed now so he
can't be there. Barbara's back at work now so she must be feeling better. He can't be
driving here: he hasn't got a car.
• To make a deduction about something in the past, use must or can't (or
couldn't) + perfect infinitive (simple or continuous):
The train got in half an hour ago so they should be here soon.
The sun's been shining all day so the sea should be quite warm now.
The weather's lovely there at this time of year so they should be having a nice
holiday.
Let's go and see Cathy: she ought to have finished working by now.
Practice
* Complete the sentences with can, could, may, might, will, should, ought to or must and
an infinitive in the appropriate form.
It used to be so easy.
It ought to be easy now.
She needn’t worry.
John daren’t tell Ruth about the accident.
Like main verbs, the negative form of need, dare and used to is
made by using do. But it can also be made without using do (like
modal verbs).
Compare
You don’t need to dress smartly.
You needn’t dress smartly.
We don’t dare (to) tell him.
We daren’t tell him.