Modal Verbs

Modal Verbs

1. Use

   • Can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will and would
   • Are always used before another verb
     • He can swim
     • They never change (they do not add s or ed or ing)
       • Are followed by a in its infinitive form without to
         • You should get up earlier (not You should to get up)
         • Are inmmediately followed by not in the negative form
           • You should not be late for college
           • Go immediately before the subject in a question
             • Could you wake me up?

2. Rules and obligation

   • Must and Have to
     • + must+verb We must leave now
       • ? must...I verb? Must we leave now?
         • + have to/has to+verb He has to leave now
           • ? do/does...+have to+verb? Do we have to leave now?
     • For obligation we use both
       • I must go now or I'll miss the bus
       • I have to go now or I'll miss the bus
       • Must
         • To give orders, for written notices or for strong advice; inclouiding to ourselves
           • Lucia must be home by midnight
           • Mustn't means 'dont do it'
       • Have to
         • When the obligation doesn't come from the speaker
           • You have to pay to park your car here
           • For habits
             • I have to get up earlier to cook breakfast
             • For other verb forms
               • Conditional, verb+ing, past, future
                 • I had to work every day
               • Don't have to means 'it's not neccesary to do it'
   • Should
     • To talk about the right thing to do
       • Adam should take more care when he is ciclying
     • To talk about the past, we use should have+past participle
       • I should have told the truth

3. Necessity

   • We can use need+ to infinitive, but it also has a modal form in negative
     • She doesn't need to come / She needn't to come
   • Positive
     • Past
       • Oliver needed to buy a computer / Oliver didn't need to buy a computer
     • She needs to come
   • Needn't have has a different meaning
     • He dindn't need it, but he did it
       • Oliver needen't have to bought a computer

4. Asking for and giving permission

   • May I?, Could I? or Can I?
     • may I sit here?
   • Answer
     • Of course/ok / Certainly
     • I'm afraid not/ no you can't

5. Making request

   • Can you? or Will you? is used in informal conversation
     • Can you pass me the bread?
   • to be more polite, we use could you? or Would you?
   • Answer
     • Of course, Ok or Maybe
       • I'm sorry/ I'm afraid/ I can't
   • We use Do you think you could? to make request
     • Do you think you could move your thing off the table?
   • When we want to be very polite we use Would you mind (not) -ing?
     • The answer is negative
       • Not at all
     • Would you mind moving to another seat?

6. Making offers

   • Can / Shall / Could / Will / Why don't / Would you like me to

7. Making suggestions

   • Let's / Shall I / Why don't I / How about / What about / I could

8. Giving orders and advice

   • Must had better ought to/should could
     • You really must start looking for a job/ You could start looking for a job
     • For the negative we use had better not or shouldn't
       • You'd better not forget to send that aplication form
       • We don't use mustn't or couldn't
     • To talk abou the past we use should have or ought to have
       • You should have accepted that job
   • To talk about the right thing to do
     • We use must/ should/ ought to/ had better not/ shouldn't/ ought not to
       • He'd better go and say sorry
     • To talk in past we can use shouldn't have
       • They shouldn't have talked so much