List

List
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Modal Verb
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Perfect Modal verb

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Exercise
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 Modal + Base form

I. Modal Verb

A modal verb (also modal, modal auxiliary verb, modal auxiliary) is a type of
auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality.

The modal verbs in English are as follows, paired as present and preterit forms:

a. shall and should

b. will and would

c. may and might

d. can and could

e. mote (Archaic) and must

Modal auxiliary verbs give more information about the function of the main
verb that follows it. Although having a great variety of communicative functions,
these functions can all be related to a scale ranging from possibility (can) to
necessity (must). Within this scale there are two functional divisions:

1. one concerned with possibility and necessity in terms of freedom to act

(including ability, permission and duty),

2. and the other (shall not included) concerns itself with the theoretical
possibility of propositions being true or not true, including likelihood and
certainty:

 must = absolute (often moral) obligation, order, requirement, necessity

 can/could = physical or mental ability

 may/might = permission, option, choice

 will = intention in 1st person, volition in 2nd and 3rd persons

 shall/should = in 1st person objective though not moral obligation, no

choice, in 2nd and third persons shall implies an incumbent obligation,
destiny (It shall come to pass) or a command, decree, necessity
imposed by the speaker

If a verb is preceded by multiple auxiliary verbs including a modal, as in "it

could have been eaten," the modal will always appear before the other auxiliary
verbs. A verb or auxiliary verb following a modal always appears in its basic form
(for example, "could have gone" instead of "could had gone").

A. Shall and will

Shall is used in many of the same senses as will, though not all dialects use
shall productively, and those that use both shall and will generally draw a
distinction (though different dialects tend to draw different distinctions). In
standard, perhaps old-fashioned English, shall in the first person, singular or
plural, indicates mere futurity, but in other persons shows an order, command or
prophecy.

Shall derive from a main verb meaning to owe, and in dialects that use both
shall and will, it is often used in instances where an obligation, rather than an
intention, is expressed. Shall is also used in legal and engineering language to
write firm laws and. Examples :

1. Shall I help you with your luggage?

2. I will do that for you if you like.

B. Should

Should is commonly used, even in dialects where shall is not. The negation is
"should not" (or the contraction "shouldn't"). Should can describe an ideal
behavior or occurrence and imparts a normative meaning to the sentence.
Examples :

1. "You should never lie" means roughly, "If you always behaved perfectly,
you would never lie"

2. "If this works, you should not feel a thing" means roughly, "I hope this will
work. If it does, you will not feel a thing."

C. Would

The contracted form of would is "'d". The negation is either "would not" or
"wouldn't". Would can be used in some forms that are viewed as more formal or
polite. Example:

1. "I would like a glass of water" compared with "I want a glass of water"

2. "Would you get me a glass of water?" compared with the bare "Get me a
glass of water."

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 It should be noted that "Would" can also be used for the imperfect tense. In
the sentence "Back then, I would eat early and would walk to school...." "would"
signifies not the conditional mood, but rather, repeated past actions of imperfect
tense in English, and one must use care when translating to other languages.

D. May and might

May and might do not have common negative contractions (equivalents to

shan't, won't, can't, couldn't etc), although mightn't can occur in asking
questions. ("Mightn't I come in if I took my muddy boots off?" as a reply to "Don't
come in here! You'll get the floor dirty!")

Both forms can be used to express a present time possibility or uncertainty.

Might and could can also be used in this sense with no past time meaning. May is
also used to express irrelevance in spite of certain or likely truth. Might can be
used in the first person to express that future actions are being considered.

May or might can be used in a question to ask for permission. It is viewed as

more hesitant or polite. Examples :

1. He may be taller than I am, but he is certainly not stronger.

2. May I have another cup of coffee?

3. I might go to the mall later.

E. Can and could

The negation of can is the single word "cannot", occasionally written as two
words "can not" or the contraction "can't". The negation of could is "could not",
or "couldn't".

Can is used to express ability. It is also used to express that some state of
affairs is possible, without referring to the ability of a person to do something.

Cannot and can't can be used to express beliefs about situations. Both can
and could can be used to make requests. Could can be used in the same way,
and might be considered more polite. Examples :

1. There can be a very strong rivalry between siblings.

2. We could try to fix it ourselves.

3. Can you pass me the cheese?

4. Could I borrow your dictionary?

 F. Must

Must has no corresponding preterit form. The negation is "must not" or

"mustn't". An archaic variant is the word mote, as used in the expression "so
mote it is".

Must and have to be used to express that something is obligatory. It can be

used to express a prohibition. There is a distinction between must and have to in
the negative forms. In the sentence "You must not go", it is being expressed that
it is obligatory for the person being spoken to not to go; whereas in the sentence
"You do not have to go" it is being expressed that it is not obligatory for the
person to go. Examples :

1. It must be here somewhere.

2. They mustn’t disrupt the work more than necessary.

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II. Perfect Modal Verb

a. Should (not) + Have + Past Participle : it expresses regret about

something we did wrong in the past.

Example : You should have apologized to your parents but you didn’t pay
attention to me.

- It can also express probability about something we expected to happen

but we are not sure if it has already happened.

They should have arrived by now, but I don’t know if they have.

b. May/might + Have + Past participle : it expresses possibility in the

past.

Example : I have been phoning Dina all afternoon and she wasn’t there.
She may left home earlier.

c. Can’t + Have + Past Participle : it expresses impossibility (negative

deduction) in the past.

Example : Mary is very sensitive. She can’t have passed a good time when
her parent got sick

d. Could + Have + Past participle : a possible action in the past that

was not fulfilled

Example : I could passed my exam, but I didn’t study enough.

e. Must + Have + Past participle : It expresses deduction in the past

Example : John is very lazy to go to school. He must have passed a

vacation with did the assignment that teacher was given by him.
III. Exercise

Choose the correct one !

1. A tiger … kill elephant

a. Can

b. Can able to

c. Are able too

d. Can be able to

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2. A hotel receptionist suggested that Hasan … to Borobudur.

a. Must go

b. Should go

c. Goes

d. Be going

3. ‘’Will you go with him?’’ this sentence means that …

a. You want to go with him

b. Someone invites you to go with him

c. You are going with him

d. Someone is going with you

4. It’s very cold outside. If you don’t have a coat, you … borrow mine.

a. Shall

b. Should

c. Would

d. May

5. You can’t do the test if you don’t study. You … stay at home and study
harder.

a. Be able to

b. Should

c. Would

d. May

6. Mr. Hasan has a large house and two expensive cars. He … be rich.

a. May

b. Has

c. Must
 d. Should

7. I … remember his name.

a. am not able to

b. can't

c. red herring

d. can have

8. You'll be able to solve this, … ?

a. can you

b. won't you

c. will you

d. couldn’t you

9. Diana … the piano.

a. can play

b. can to play

c. eats

d. must be play

10.Sorry, Teacher. I … do it yet.

a. wasn't able to

b. couldn't

c. haven't been able to

d. must have

11. She … come on holiday next month if her parents give her permission.

a. can't

b. could

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 c. will be able to

d. must

12.He … pass the exam if he studied harder.

a. will be able to

b. can

c. would be able to

d. have to

13.They … go. The weather was too bad.

a. couldn't

b. can't

c. wasn't able to

d. had to

14.The fishing boat sank but luckily all the crew … save themselves.

a. were able to

b. could

c. wasn't able to

d. must

15.A: Can you lend me some money?

B: Sorry. I ... . I haven't got any either.

a. can't

b. am not able to

c. couldn't

d. won’t