What are modal verbs?

1. Modal verbs are an auxiliary verb which add a special meaning to a main verb.
e.g. Obligation, permission, possibility, advice, prohibition, speculation …..

2. Modal verbs usually have

- one form: the base form (infinitive – to)

- one tense: the present (simple + continuous) e.g. It must stop / I should be sleeping

3. They do not have

- a ‘to’ infinitive. e.g. can, will, have to, need to, might, should, …

- an -s inflection in the 3rd person singular. e.g. he must, it can, she need,

Except: He has to pay for the damaged furniture at the wedding..

4. For negative form: add not (n’t) after the verb

e.g. You mustn’t lick electricity! They can’t take away my favourite traffic jam.

5. For questions: use inversion (subject and verb switch places)

e.g. Must you always pick Herman’s nose?

Need she really go to the Antartic for a house warming party?
Can they legally break into our cricket farm?

Except: Does he have to yodel while performing surgery?

6. For the other tenses:

- use other verbs e.g. “You must eat cabbage”. vs “I had to eat cabbage”.
“You can audition”. vs “You will be allowed to audition”.

- Use modal + have + past participle:

e.g. You could have hurt yourself. They should have warned me.

1
1. Obligation Must / Have to / Need to
2. No obligation Don’t have to / Needn’t
3. Prohibition Mustn’t / Can’t
4. Advice Should / Ought to
5. Negative advice Shouldn’t / Ought not to
6. Possibility Can /Could / May / Might
7. Permission Can / Could / May / Might

1. Obligation:

You must sit quiet while the doctor has a look at your earlobe.
They have to walk, since their bikes were stolen by a reverse delivery service.
We need to find out who stole the chimney.

2. No obligation

They don’t all have to become dog trainers if they don’t want to.

You needn’t worry about the lion, I’ll feed him while you’re on holiday.

3. Prohibition
You can’t touch my pizza oven after nine pm..
You mustn’t talk to those flowers in the park, I don’t trust them.

4. Advice

You should have known a hamster called Brutus would bite.

They ought to find out how the bath plug got burnt, cut in half and turned yellow.

5. Negative advice

She shouldn’t have married that virologist, considering her fear of ologists.
You oughtn’t to say that about his dictionary in front of his cousin.

6. Possibility

Yes, we can! It may fly to Uranus. It might fly to my what?!

He could have eaten whale for lunch, but he thought it would spoil the dessert.

7. Permission
You can breathe now. Might I push the red button? You may go, Mr. Walker.