MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE

Kyiv National Linguistic University

School of Translation Studies
Korunets Department
of English Philology and Translation

Project Work in Contrastive Grammar of English and Ukrainian

Modal verbs expressing possibility in the English and Ukrainian

languages

Yana Syzonenko
Group ПА03-19

Research supervisor:
V.G. Nikonova
Professor, Doctor of Philology

Kyiv 2021
 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF THE PROBLEM
Modal verbs are used to show the speakers attitude toward the action or state
indicated by the infinitive, i.e. they show that the action indicated by the infinitive is
considered as possible, impossible, probable, improbable, obligatory, necessary,
advisable, doubtful or uncertain, etc. The modal verbs are: can, (could), may (might),
must, should, ought, shall, will, would, need, dare. The modal expressions to be +
Infinitive and to have + Infinitive also belong here.
They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness.
Modal verbs do not take the ending -(e)s in the 3 rd person singular.
E.g.: She may know his address.
Interrogative and negative forms are made without an auxiliary verb.
E.g.: Can you swim? He shouldn’t be doing that, should he?
After modal verbs, other verbs are used with the bare Infinitive (without particle
to), except the modal verb ought (to).
E.g.: You may leave the book on the table. Children ought to obey grown-ups.
All modal verbs have two negative forms – a full one and a contracted one:
cannot – can’t, may not – mayn’t, must not – mustn’t, ought not (to) – oughtn’t (to),
shall not – shan’t, will not – won’t, should not – shouldn’t, would not – wouldn’t,
need not – needn’t, dare not – daren’t.
All forms of the Infinitive are possible after modal verbs.
E.g.: He must cook a lot. (Non-Perfect Active)
This work ought to be done in time. (Non-Perfect Passive)
You might have told me about it. (Perfect Active)
The book can’t have been studied so quickly. (Perfect Passive)
She may be studying a lot these days. (Continuous Active)
You may have been interpreting for 2 hours yesterday. (Perfect Continuous Active)
Modal verbs do not have the Participle or Infinitive forms.
 Modal verbs do not have all the tense and aspect forms typical of notional verbs:
can has two forms: can (present) and could (past), may also has two forms:
may (present) and might (past), must has only one form, etc.
To supply the missing forms of modal verb modal equivalents are used: can – to be
able to; may – to be allowed to / to be permitted to; must – to have to / to be to.
In English, there are four main modals of possibility: can, may, must, to be +
Infinitive.

The modal verb can has two forms: can and could. The expression to be able
(to), which has the same meaning, can be used to supply the missing forms of the
modal verb can.
Can expresses possibility
(a) due to circumstances
“Can I see him”? Yates asked, not very hopefully. “I am sorry, no” the voice
was hesitant. “We don’t want him disturbed”. (Heym)
(b) due to the existing laws
You cannot play football in the street
May expresses possibility due to circumstances
May is used in this sense only in affirmative sentences. Can is also possible in this
meaning.
In this museum you may see some interesting things.
In this meaning it is generally used with the Indefinite Infinitive.
The modal verb may has two forms: may (present) and might (past)
May expresses possibility of the fact
In this meaning the modal verb may can be followed by any form of the Infinitive.
Time reference is indicated not 67 by the form of the verb but by that of the Infinitive
(the Non-Perfect Infinitive refers to the present or future, the Perfect – to the past). In
this meaning the modal verb may occurs in affirmative and negative statements but is
not used in questions. In questions this meaning is rendered by: Is it likely? or: Do
you think?
E.g.: She may not know that you are here. It may rain tomorrow.
The modal verb might expresses:
Possibility (especially in the past).
E.g.: He thought that she might have missed the train.
Must does not always express compulsion or obligation. It is sometimes used
to express possibility.
E.g.: She must be about forty years old.
The modal equivalent to be (to) is used in the past and present tenses. E.g.:
E.g.: We are to meet at six. We were to meet at six.
The verb to be (to) expresses possibility. In this meaning the passive form of
the Infinitive is used unless it is a question beginning with the interrogative adverb
how. Here the meaning of the modal expression comes very close to that of the verb
can.
E.g.: How are they to know that you are well connected if you do not show it
by your costume?
 Practical assignment

Exercise 1. Comment the usage of modal verbs. Highlight verbs that express
possibility.
1. The typewriter people were again clamoring for money, insistently pointing out
that according to the agreement rent was to be paid strictly in advance. (London) 2.
By that time of evening only a few persons were to be seen on the wet streets and
most of the shops and stores were dark and closed for the night. (Caldwell) 3. "You're
to go now, Blick!" said Hunter, getting up. (Murdoch) 4. I distinctly told you to stay
with her every minute I was away. You are not to be trusted. (Fischer) 5. It was after
breakfast, and we had been summoned in from the playground, when Mr. Sharp
entered and said: "David Copperfield is to go into the parlour." (Dickens) 6.
Demetrius was nowhere to be found. (Douglas) 7. When my wife and I settle down at
Willowmere it's possible that we shall all come together. But if this isn't to be, for
Heaven's sake, let us recognise that it is simply because it can't be, and not wear
hypocritical faces and suffer and be wretched. (Pinero) 8. The snow which had lain so
thick and beautiful when I left the country was scarcely to be seen in the city...
(Murdoch) 9. Your mother arranged that she was to come down from London and that
I was to come over from Dover to be introduced to you. (Shaw) 10. Mrs. Moore, your
delightful doctor has decided on a picnic, instead of a party in his house; we are to
meet him out there... (Forster) 11. For June this evening, that was to have been "her
treat", was the most miserable she had ever spent. (Galsworthy) 12. Eliza, you are to
live here for the next six months, learning, how to speak beautifully, like a lady in a
florist's shop. (Shaw)
Keys: 1. order 5. Order 9. arrangement
2. possibility 6. Possibility 10. arrangement
3. order 7. Possibility 11. arrangement
4. possibility 8. Order 12. Arrangement
 Exercise 2. Translate into English using the verbs can, may, must.
Вже п'ять годин. Збори могли вже скінчитися; почекаємо трохи, він може скоро
прийти. 2. Петя, мабуть, захворів, інакше він був би вже в театрі, він ніколи не
приходить в останній момент. 3. Не може бути, щоб вона забула про концерт, це
зовсім не схоже на неї. 4. Я його сьогодні не чекаю; але, хто знає, можливо, він і
прийде. 5. «Хотіла б я знати, де вона дістала „Три товариші" Ремарка?». —
«Вона могла взяти її в нашій бібліотеці». — «Не може бути, щоб вона взяла її в
нашій бібліотеці: Семенова вчора взяла останній екземпляр» — «Ну, мабуть,
вона взяла її в іншій бібліотеці»
Keys: It is five o’clock. The meeting might have already finished, let's wait a little, he
may come soon. 2. Peter must have fallen ill, otherwise he would have been in the
theater, he never comes at the last moment. 3. She cannot have forgotten about the
concert, it's not typical of her. 4. I don't expect him today; but, who knows, he may
come. 5. I wish I knew where she got the" Three Comrades by Remark?” — She may
take it in our library. — She cannot have taken it in our library: Semenova took the
last copy yesterday ". — Well, she must have taken it from another library.

Exercise 3. Insect may(might), can(could), or the contracted forms of may not, might
not, cannot, could not.
1. "There is a man I know," I said; "you … have met him, a man named Longrush."
(Jerome K. Jerome)
2. He noticed at once that her manner was as natural almost as a frank, manly
schoolboy’s, there … never (he thought] have been a grain of affectation in her.
(Hichens)
3. I … neither lie comfortably in bed nor find anything to do with myself if I got up.
(Murdoch)
4. She jumped up when she saw me and said, "Really, I think she … have waited a bit
before dismantling the house!" (Murdoch)
5. I beg the Magistrate's pardon, but … I request a few minutes private conversation
with him on a matter of deep importance to himself? (Dickens)
6. "You are a sworn constable?" "I be, sir." "Then pursue the criminal at once, with
assistance, and bring him back here. He … have gone far." (contracted ) (Hardy)
7. I said, "… I help you?" (Murdoch)
8. "Perhaps," said the Captain, "you … have heard your head governor mention my
name?" (Dickens)

Keys:1. "There is a man I know," I said; "you might have met him, a man named
Longrush." (Jerome K. Jerome)
2. He noticed at once that her manner was as natural almost as a frank, manly
schoolboy’s, there could never (he thought] have been a grain of affectation in her.
(Hichens)
3. I could neither lie comfortably in bed nor find anything to do with myself if I got
up. (Murdoch)
4. She jumped up when she saw me and said, "Really, I think she might have waited a
bit before dismantling the house!" (Murdoch)
5. I beg the Magistrate's pardon, but might I request a few minutes private
conversation with him on a matter of deep importance to himself? (Dickens)
6. "You are a sworn constable?" "I be, sir." "Then pursue the criminal at once, with
assistance, and bring him back here. He can’t have gone far." (contracted) (Hardy)
7. I said, "May I help you?" (Murdoch)
8. "Perhaps," said the Captain, "you might have heard your head governor mention
my name?" (Dickens)
Exercise 4. Translate into English
1.Тепер усьому світу доведеться повірити, що людству судилося заселити якщо
не всі, то багато планет сонячної системи.2. Якби хтось сказав це років п'ятдесят
тому, йому відповіли б, що про це й думати не можна. 3. Скептикам, які казали,
що цього може бути, доводиться визнати, що нам судилося стати свідками
міжпланетних польотів. 4. Щоб здійснити запуск космічної ракети в
міжпланетний простір, вченим довелося зробити точні обчислення, щоб знати,
куди направити ракету. Вони вирішили, що вона має пройти у безпосередній
близькості від Місяця. 5. Вважають, що Місяць, можливо, буде базою для
міжпланетних польотів. 6. Вчені думають, що на Місяці, мабуть, немає
атмосфери. 7. Проблеми, які нам доведеться подолати для того, щоб створити
пасажирські міжпланетні ракети, дуже великі. Але ми, безперечно, подолаємо
їх.
Keys:
1. Now the whole world has to believe that the humankind is to populate, if not all the
planets in the solar system, then some at least. 2. If someone had said this fifty years
ago, he would have replied, that he could not think of that. 3. The skeptics, who said
that this could not be possible, have to admit that we are to be witnesses the
interplanetary voyages. 4. For launching a space rocket into interplanetary space,
scientists had to make accurate calculations to know where to direct the rocket at.
They decided that it must pass in direct proximity from the Moon. 5. It is supposed,
that the Moon may serve a base for interplanetary voyages. 6. The scientists believe,
that the Moon must have no atmosphere. 7. The challenges we will have to face to
create a passenger interplanetary ships are very strong. But we are going to manage
them undoubtedly.
Exercise 5. Insect may, might, can, could.
They …. come later.
They …. come by car.
If we don’t hurry, we …. be late.
It’s ten o’clock. They ….. have arrived now.
They … have arrived hours ago.
It …. be very cold in winter.
You ….. easily lose your way in the dark.
It …. be very cold in winter.
You …. lose your way in the dark.
Keys:
They might come later.
They may come by car.
If we don’t hurry, we could be late.
It’s ten o’clock. They might have arrived now.
They could have arrived hours ago.
It can be very cold in winter.
You can easily lose your way in the dark.
It could be very cold in winter.
You could lose your way in the dark.