Bài giảng modal verbs

DEFINITION:Modal verbs or Modal auxiliary verbs are special verbs such as: Can Could Will Would Shall Should May Might Must They are used with another verb to express an idea such as

MODAL VERBS

I DEFINITION:

Modal verbs ( or Modal auxiliary verbs) are special

verbs such as:

Can Could Will Would

Shall Should May Might

Must They are used with another verb to express an idea such

as possibility, necessity that are not expressed by the main verb of a sentence.

II CHARACTERISTICS

- All modal verbs have some special characteristic you

should remember :

Mary can play the guitar quite well.

1 They are always followed by an infinitive without “to”.

2 They never change their form for all subjects.

Modal verbs don’t take “-s” in the third person singular.

You cannot say: she/he wills or she/he cans

3 Like the other auxiliary verbs (be, have and do) in negatives, questions, tags and so on.

- Use “not/n’t” to make modal verbs negative.

E.g : I cannot/can’t speak english.

- It comes before the subject in questions.

E.g : Can you speak English?

4 Many modal verbs cannot be used in the past tenses

or the future tenses.

E.g:

He will can go with us. Not Correct

She musted study very hard. Not Correct

 Some different expressions:

-Be able to

-Be allowed to

-Have (got) to

III FORM:

(+) S + modal verbs + bare infinitive.

(-) S+ modal verbs + not+ bare infinitive

 E.g: You must not/ mustn’t smoke here.

(?) Modal verbs + S+ bare infinitive?

her and

apologize ?

PROHIBITION MUSTN’T/ CAN’T

LACK OF NECESSITY NEEDN’T/ DON’T NEED TO/ …

SUGGESTION, OFFER AND

INVITATION

SHALL/CAN/COULD/WILL/WOULD

1 Modal of ability:

- To talk about someone's

skill, power or physical ability to do something

Past Present Future

what is ability?

 Can:

-we use to say that somebody has ability to do something at a given time in the present/ future

E.g: She can speak several languages.

She is thinking of all the things she can buy.

-We can say that somebody is able to do some thing

E.g: She is able to speak several languages.

 Can is more usual.

 Be able to is more formal.

 Could

- General ability in the past

E.g: Jack was an excellent tennis player, he could

beat anybody.

-We use Could especially with: see/hear/smell…

E.g: John spoke in a soft voice but I could hear

what he said.

 Were/was able to

- Special ability in the past.

E.g: Jack and john played a match yesterday and john was able to beat Jack.

 Could+ have+ PII

- To talk about someone had

ability/opportunity to do something, but they didn’t do it

E.g: - John could have played the piano well but he didn’t practice enough.

2 Modal of Permission.

(Can/ Could/ May)

To ask for permission to do something

E.g: - Can I use your phone?

- May I come in?

- Could I borrow your car?

 Can: informal

 Could and may is more formal and a good way of asking for permission

E.g: You can go out whenever we want.

Students may travel free.

 We also use modal verbs in negative to say that something is not allowed

E.g: If you under 18, you can’t drive a car.

May is not only a more formal and polite way

of giving permission, but also saying that

someone has permission to do something.

- To say that it isn’t a good thing to do.

E.g: You shouldn’t believe everything you read

in the newspapers.

 Should be/ ought to be+ V-ing

- To say that you expect something to happen but it

is not right.

E.g: -It’s 7 o’clock You should be preparing for

dinner.

 Should (not) +have+ P II.

- To express the idea that something was desirable or

needed but didn’t take place.

E.g: I should have called you yesterday but I forgot.

- We also use Ought to/ had better to express the

same meaning

• Ought to is less common in the speech

• Had better: usually implies a warning or a

threat of possible bad consequences

E.g: You had better not be late, or I will be

furious!

4 Modal of Obligation.

-To say that it is necessary or unnecessary to do something

E.g: I must obey my parents.

- Students have to wear uniforms at school.

Note: the difference between Must and have to :

Must: to talk the obligation comes from inside the speaker

Have/has to: to talk about the obligation comes from outside It is usually referring a rule, or law

5 Prohibitions

- We use: “ Mustn’t/ can’t ” to show that

something is prohibited (not allowed).

E.g : You mustn’t use phone in class.

You can’t drive a car in this country unless you are over 18.

 Can’t : usually gives the idea of something that

is against the rules.

 Mustn’t: usually means that it is the speaker who is setting the rules.

6 Lack of Necessity.

- To say that is unnecessary to do something

 Lack of necessity in the present.

6 Lack of Necessity.

- To talk that is unnecessary to do something

 Lack of necessity in the past.

I didn’t

have To take my umbrella It

was not raining

need

I Needn’t Have taken my umbrella It

was not raining

Didn’t need to= Didn’t have to Needn’t have+ P II

To talk about the action was

not necessary to do and person

7 Modals of Probability and Possibility.

- To make a guess about something (that

something happened/is happening/will

possible happen)

Modals Degree of certainty Example

Must About 90% certain.

-We are sure that something

to be true and we have reasons for our belief.

You haven’t eaten all day You must be hungry.

Can’t/

Couldn’t - To show that you strongly believe that something is

impossible.

That’s impossible! John

couldn’t be in Las Vegas I saw him just a few minutes ago He can’t be here.

May

Might

Could

- Less than 50% certain

- To express possibility (to show that you believe

something is possible, but you are not very certain)

- situation : Mary is wearing a white coat.

She could/might/may be a doctor.

How certain you are about present situation.

Modal of probability and possibility in the past.

 S+ Modal+ have+ past participle.

- To show how certain you are about something that

happened in the past.

Modals Degree of certainty Example

Must About 90% certain.

-We are sure it’s true.

There’s nobody here;

Everybody must have gone out.

May

Might

Could

Less than 50% certain. Lisa might/may/could

have left already I’ll check.

- The train may have been delayed.

Modal of probability and possibility in the past.

- To show how certain you are about something that did not happen in the past.

Modals

+not+

have+

past participle

use Example

something which didn’t happen.

Davis couldn’t have stolen the robbed the store He was at home with me all evening.

May

Might

A guess about something which didn’t happen.( not certain)

I may not have seen

him.

Jack might not have been in town last week.

 We also use Modals with the progressive

to make a guess or draw a conclusion about:

-something in progress at or around the time of

speaking.

E.g: I am not sure Maria might be sleeping

-something that was in the progress before the time of

speaking.

E.g: John must have been working on his car; His

hands are really dirty.

- Probability and possibility in the future.

E.g: There are a few clouds in the sky;

It could

May

Might rain later.

E.g: where’s Anna?

She will probably get here soon.

certain that something will happen in the future

Won’t - To express that you are almost

certain that something won’t happen in the future.

Could/may/might - To express future possibility

( not sure)

May/might + not - To show that it is possible that

something will not happen.

8 Instruction and Requests

 Could you/would you…as polite ways of telling or asking someone to do something.

E.g: Could I take a message, please?

Would you carry this for me, please?

 We also use Can/will However, will/can is less polite.

E.g: Can you be quiet for a minute please?

9 Suggestion, Offers and invitations:

We use can I… and to make offers:

E.g: Can I help you?

Can I do that for you?

We can also use shall I/we…

E.g: Shall I help you with that?

It’s a nice day Shall we go out and have dinner together?

We sometime say I can   or I could  or I’ll (I will)  to make an offer: E.g: I can do that for you if you like.

I’ll give you a lift to the station.

We use would you like (to)  for invitations:

E.g: Would you like to come round tomorrow?

Would you like another drink?

We use you must or we must for a very polite invitation:

E.g: You must come round and see us.

We must meet again soon.

Would: use with action verbs.

E.g: on Sunday my parents would take me to dance

school.

-With state verbs, we only use “ used to ”

E.g: I used to hate dancing in those day.

LUCKY NUMBERS

1 Rewrite the sentence in the

same meaning :

It’s wasn’t necessary for me to

go out after all.

I -after all.

needn’t have gone out

3 Complete the sentence

use would :

They help us a lots I don’t know what we -

(do) without their help.

Would have done

Should have said

4 The children

-(say) ‘’thank you’’ to you when you gave them gifts?

6 The thief almost certainly came in through the

window yesterday.

=>The

thief -through the window

yesterday.Must have come in

In England, you (drive) on the left.

-have to drive

Star t

John still hasn't come out He (prepare) everything for the trip now.

Must be preparing

 "Where do you think Rooney is today?" "I have

no idea He (sleep) _ late."

may have slept

“Oh no, I(say)………….that “, she said, clapping

a hand over her mouth.

shouldn’t have said

 Unless he runs, he(catch) the train.

won’t catch

Leave early so that you (miss) the bus.

won’t miss

Smoking(have)………… a bad effect on your health.

can have