Home » English Grammar » Verbs » Modal

verbs

Suggestions and
obligations
Level: beginner

Suggestions

We use should and shouldn't to make

suggestions and give advice
advice:

You should send an email.

You shouldn’t go by train.

We also use could to make positive

suggestions
suggestions:

We could meet at the weekend.

You could eat out tonight.

Level: intermediate

We can use conditionals to give advice

advice:

Dan will help you if you ask him.

Past tenses are more polite:

Dan would help you if you asked

him.

Suggestions 1

Suggestions 2

Level: beginner

Obligations

We use must and mustn't to say that it is

necessary (or not) to do something
something:

You must stop at a red light.

Everyone must bring something to
eat.
You can wear what you like, but you
must look neat and tidy.
I’m sorry, but you mustn't make a
noise in here.

We use had to (positive) and couldn't

(negative) if we are talking about the past
past:

Everyone had to bring something

to eat.
You couldn't make a noise in the
library.

Obligations 1

Obligations 2

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English Grammar

Pronouns

Determiners and quantifiers

Possessives

Adjectives

Adverbials

Nouns

Verbs

Verb phrases

Irregular verbs

Questions and negatives

Short forms

The verb 'be'

Present tense

Past tense

Perfect aspect

Continuous aspect

Modal verbs

Probability

Ability

Permission

Requests, offers and invitations

Suggestions and obligations

'can' and 'could'

'may' and 'might'

'will' and 'would'

'will have' and 'would have'

Modals with 'have'

Active and passive voice

'to'-infinitives

'-ing' forms

Talking about the present

Talking about the past

Talking about the future

Verbs in time clauses and 'if' clauses

Wishes and hypotheses

Clause structure and verb patterns

Delexical verbs: 'have', 'take', 'make', 'give', 'go' and 'do'

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