TOPIC 20

AUXILIARY & MODAL VERBS:

FORMS AND FUNCTIONS
OVERVIEW

AUXILIARY VERBS AND MODAL VERBS

PRIMARY AUXILIARIES
MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS
 Auxiliary verbs Do, be & have
They combine with present participles, past participles or with infinitives to form the tenses
of ordinary verbs. They only convey tense, followed by -ing, -ed or infinitive (either present or
perfect), aspect & voice .

Modal verbs, also auxiliary; they accompany another main verb,

-They convey distinct meanings.I must go now, “must” conveys obligation.
They combine with infinitives (present or perfect) of lexical verbs to indicate a full range of
meanings.
Under this umbrella we have 12: can/could, may/might; shall/should; will/would; dare,
must, needn’t and ought to, plus the semi-modal “used to”.
 Be, have and do
Be, have & do both LEXICAL VERBS & PRIMARY AUXILIARIES.

DO- Five forms, do, does & did; contracted with the negative form “not”: don´t, doesn´t, &
didn´t . And the participles done & doing.

As an auxiliary, “do” can be used with three main functions: operator, proform or emphatic particle.

OPERATOR- to form the negative and interrogation of the present & past tenses of ordinary verbs.
PRO-FORM to avoid repetition, used for simple present and simple past in question tags
He studies music, doesn’t he? Short agreements and disagreements: Tom smokes a lot. Yes,he
does; Additions to remarks: He likes reading and so do I; Short answers: Did he arrive on time? Yes,
he did; and in comparisons: He eats more than I do.

Auxiliary “do” gives emphasis to a verb in the imperative, present simple or past: they did win the
match.
 Be, have and do
BE the lexical and auxiliary verb “be” is unique among English verbs eight different forms. The
forms of the auxiliary “be” for the present: am, is, are; for the negative we simply place “not” after the
verb or use the contractions “isn’t” and “aren’t”, but there is no contraction between “am” and “not”.
Past simple, two forms: was, were and their respective negative contractions: wasn’t, weren’t. The
past participle is “been” and that of the present participle is “being”.

-Used to form the continuous tenses, followed by the -ing form of the lexical verb.
They are playing football.

-In all PASSIVE FORMS followed by the past participle of the lexical verb:
The ball was given to the referee. i
In continuous forms of the passive. In the sentence “the injured player is being taken to hospital”
“be” is used twice, once for the continuous & another time for the passive.
Other uses of aux. TO BE
Be + to +INF. “Be” can be followed by “to + infinitive” to indicate obligation,
equivalent to “ought to/have to”: the players are to train for two hours

To refer to future plans; this use is often found in newspapers:

the players are to play in Germany next month. ,

Use of past was/ were + to + inf., this expression refers to an idea of destiny:
They had lost too many matches, they were never to win the championship.

In conditional sentences to express a hypothesis,

If I were to choose a player for my team, it wouldn’t be you;

Expression as above, followed by a was/ were + to + Perfect Infinitive , something which had
been expected did not come true: The plane was to have taken off at 6, but it was delayed.

We can form several tenses: pres/past cont; pres/past perf cont; fut/ fut perf. cont.
BE ABOUT TO + INF or the equivalent expression be on the point of + ING to express
immediate future: the match is about to start /on the point of starting)

“Be”, as a semi-auxiliary to denote future tense in the combination be+ going to+ inf.:
Spain is not going to win because the other team is better.

HAVE Primary auxiliary. 4 forms: for the present have , for the past “had”, which
can also be contracted with not, hadn’t. The same form of the past participle and “having” is the
present participle form.
-Main use an auxiliary to form perfect tenses, followed by the past participle of the main verb: they have
won the match. We can form several tenses:
pres/past perf; pres/past perf. cont; past. perf. conditional.
Also used as an auxiliary in the construction have to + infinitive.
“have (got) to” correspond to “must” to express obligation : You have to be back by ten o’clock, or
logical necessity: Somebody had to lose the game.
 Have
The auxiliary “have” used in the expression had better + infinitive; in this case it has a present or future
meaning, to give a strong recommendation: You had better not miss the last bus.

Have + object + past participle. is also used in causative constructions, followed by a direct
object and the past participle of the lexical verb .
The subject hired the services of somebody to do something for him: The team had the meal prepared.

This construction is referred to by some authors as a kind of passive of causative object.

I’m going to have my car’s oil changed.
MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS.
twelve modal auxiliary verbs, used with very great frequency and in a wide range of meanings.
They express concepts or attitudes relating to: ability, advice, certainty, intention or willingness,
obligation/absence of obligation, offers, permission,possibility, prediction, probability, requests
and suggestions

4 paired forms: can/could, may/might, shall/should, will/would &

4 single forms: dare, must, needn’t and ought to. A semi-modal could be added: “used to”.
Three characteristics .
i) they are defective or anomalous, in the sense that they lack a full set of forms: they have no proper
past tenses, there is no -s for the Simple Present third person, they have no infinitives or participles
and therefore they can not be used in the progressive tense.
ii) they must be followed by a bare infinitive; “ought to” is the only exception.
iii) similarly to the primary auxiliaries, they can act as operators when forming interrogative and
negative sentences and also as pro-forms.
CAN / COULD
Both used to say SOMETHING IS POSSIBLE
(1) first because we have an ability, in this case an equivalent expression is “be able to”
(2) second because we have permission, an equivalent expression is “be allowed to”
( 3) and third because the circumstances provide the opportunity, this is also expressed by
“have the chance to”.

-To express CAPACITY or HABILITY.

Difference is of tense; “can” for the present and future and “could” for the past.
“Could” for the expression of ability in the past is often interchangeable with “was/were able to” to
express general ability: I could run very fast.
For a SPECIFIC SITUATION we prefer “was/were able to”:
yesterday I was able to run four miles.
To emphasize that the performance supposed a special effort, we prefer verbs such as : “succeeded
in” or “manage to”: I succeeded in winning the faster runner.
 CAN / COULD
With the idea of future ability “can” is also used for suggestions or decisions:
I can pick you up at ten.
Otherwise for the idea of future capacity “will be able to”.

-Both modals are used TO REQUEST & GIVE PERMISSION in the present and future time.
SLIGHT DIFFERENCE between both, a difference of politeness or distance with the listener;

“Could” is more formal Could I leave earlier today, Mr Brown?

To talk about permission in the past “was/were allowed to”.
To express PROBABILITY in THE PRESENT or FUTURE TIME “could” indicates a less likely
possibility: it could be true=future.

To talk about POSSIBILITY IN THE PAST “could” + perf. infinitive :

it could have rained yesterday.
REQUESTS or ASKING FOR A FAVOUR Can/could you open the window?,
“Could” apart fom being more formal is also used with a present meaning, an idea of condition:
She could be a nice girl (if she wanted).
 MAY- For permission , used in QUESTIONS 1st pers. sing:
May I leave earlier today? In AFFIRMATIVE sentences 2nd & 3rd pers. : yes, you may leave
earlier.

In possibility & probability- Less likely tan with “ can /could”:He may come, but it’s not very frequent.
A very rare use of “may”, to express a wish with a similar meaning to a subjunctive: May God bless you.

Mustn’t and can’t instead of “may not” , used to deny permission: No, you can’t leave earlier.

MIGHT- Possibility or probability; it (less likely possibility than “may”) He might

come, but I don’t think he will.
NOT used for permission, it creates hesitation and doubt. it implies that the speaker assumes
that the permission will not be granted.
Used in Reported Speech when the message in direct speech contains “may”. In case
the reporting verb is in the past “may” is replaced by “might”: He said he might
come here.
 SHALL.mainly in questions; especially first pers. sing. & plural subjects, in spoken
English we normally use the contracted forms: I’ll, we’ll; the negative form of “shall” is: shall not or
shan’t.-It is mainly used in offers: Shall I give you a lift to the match? and suggestions: I’ve no
moneyto go to the match. What shall I do?.

-Although it is less frequent, “shall” can also indicate determination or prediction: I shall tell
him what I think. With this meaning it can be also used with the 2nd
and 3
rd person, in this case it indicates determination on the part of the speaker that something will or will not
happen: you shall do as I tell you.
 WILL In spoken English the negative form of is won’t, In its primary use, the modal is
used to express futurity with an idea of volition or certainty that a future event will take place.

Volition: -Weak volition by means of polite requests, used in second person:

Will you drive me to the football match?.- Intermediate volition intention or determination
on the part of the speaker (first person): I will ask him out - Strong volition Insistence of
orders, (second and third person) NO contraction with a stressed form
You will wait for me till the end of the match.

-Certainty of an action is CHARACTERISTIC or HABIT: My dog will sit and wait till I arrive home.

- FUTURE meaning, We decide to do something at the time of speaking:

I’ve no money to go to the match. I’ll lend you some.
-For PREDICTIONS when there’s no evidence: I think we will win the match.
- Used in the FIRST CONDITIONAL for PROMISING, INVITING & OFFERING
SHOULD something ESCAPABLE OBLIGATION or ADVISABLE .
You should practice some sport -
It is also used to refer to something that is expected: I wonder where Tina is, she should be here.

-SHOULD followed by a perfect infinitive refers to an action a person did not do,; :
You should have come with us, we really enjoyed ourselves

DARE.
-In affirmative sentences as a lexical verb followed by a to-infinitive, meaning “not to be afraid of”. -
NEGATIVE & INTERROGATIVE can be used as a lexical verb + “DO” operator or as a modal verb
functioning as an operator itself: Dare you tell me that? or do you dare to tell me that?
-NOT frequently USED in Modern English except in some expressions such as “I dare say” meaning
probably: I dare say it will rain tomorrow.
WOULD - In second and third type conditional sentences HYPOTHETICAL meaning of the lexical
verb: if I were fitter I would play football.. Others similar to “Would”.

-Expressions “I wish” and “If only” when you want something or someone to change:
I wish you would give up smoking.
WOULD -In Reported Speech when the message in direct speech contains “will”.
He said he would watch the match.
-For INVITATIONS Would you like a cigarette? and REQUESTS Would you mind telling me the
truth?
WOULD indicates that an action occurred repeatedly in the past; similar meaning as
“used to” when referring to actions, but not when referring to states: the trainer would sit
and stare.
MUST.-For present and future obligation, the authority comes from speaker OR speaker is giving
his opinion about somebody’s obligation, -It implies emotional involvement on the part of
the speaker..It is also used to express logical deduction: He must be rich, he has a lot of houses.
As a fixed expression- I must say..

“HAVE TO” stating an EXTERNAL obligation,. a person is obliged to do something, so it is

more objective does not involve personal implication: Professional football players have to train everyday
because they must be fit.

First person the difference “HAVE TO “ & “MUST “difficult to distinguish if it is external obligation or
if I feel that it is my responsibility to do it: I must study/have to study. Though, with an OBLIGATION in
the PAST , only “had to” is possible

Third person, “must” is used when giving written instructions or stating general rules:
Cars must stop when the traffic light is red.
-In the negative form PROHIBITION.One mustn’t gossip about people’s private life.
 NEEDN’T can be both a modal auxiliary and a lexical verb.
As a modal its forms are “need/need not/needn’t”,same forms for all persons.
-Needn’t + inf. lack of obligation and is similar to “don’t have to”.
When referring to the past or to the future we are left with only the second alternative:
I needn’t wear a suit but I do.
Needn’t + perf. Inf. an unnecessary action which was nevertheless performed:
You needn’t have helped me, I could do it on my own.

OUGHT TO used to replace “should”.the same functions,

It is MORE EMPHATIC than “should” -NOT used in INVERSIONS or QUESTION TAGS
: You ought to finish your work, shouldn’t you?

USED TO the past tense of a defective verb,. NO PRESENT TENSE .

This semi-modal used to express A PAST HABIT NO LONGER PRACTICED.
“as a child I used to spend hours staring at the water in the river”. Here “used to” is replaceable by “would”.