Modal Verbs

Angélica Ábilez - Carla Granzotto - Julián Gómez

What are modal verbs?
Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that express necessity,
possibility, permission, ability, or other conditions. They
are used to modify the main verb in a sentence and give
additional information about the verb's function.
Key characteristics of modal verbs
No -S or -ED forms:
Modal verbs do NOT change form based on tense or subject.
Correct: He can swim.
Incorrect: He cans swim.

No infinitive or participle forms:

Modal verbs do NOT have infinitve (to can, to must) or participle (canning, musted).

Followed by the base form of the verb:

The verb following a modal verb is always in its base form (without "to").
Correct: She can go.
Incorrect: She can goes.

Negation and questions:

To form negative sentences, "not" is added after the modal verb (She cannot (can't) go).
Questions are formed by inverting the subject and the modal verb (Can she go?).
 General uses
Should /
Must Can Could May Might
ought to

Total Abililty, Ability in Request, Polite Advise,

obligation request, the past, possibility / request, deduction
casuality polite probability possibility /
request, probability
probability
 Speculation in the present and future Contraction
-I‘ll
-She‘ll not

Will/Won’t
1. Used to predict an event with certainty, a fact.
Ex: I will be in holyday next week.
2. A strong believe in the present, an assumption from our knowledge.
Ex: Who’s that dog? - It will be Jon’s. (We’ve seen his dog already.)

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 Negative
-Can’t
Speculation in the present and future
-Shouldn’t (No
unpleasant ideas)

Must and Can’t

1. Must for the most logical conclusion. (The evidence is clear.)

Ex: -Look over there! That must be Carl’s new car
-She can’t have a 10 years old daugther, she’s only 22!
Should
1. Expresses what may be reasonable to happen. It subtly gives our desire
to what we would like to happen.
Ex: Our take out should be in five minutes. (If they haven’t forgotten our
order.)
-Conditional
-If everything goes well, we should pass the course.
 Examples
May & Might 1. We may travel to Greece on
our holydays. (It is not certain.)
2. We may not have enough
Both express a possibility in the future, money to travel abroad next
nonetheless, might is slightly more year.
tentative.

1. I might not come back in a

few hours, so don’t wait for
me.
2. It might rain later. Take an
umbrella.
 Could not =/= can’t
Could not is weaker than can’t

Could & Can

Could can be used similarly as might

Example: It could rain, but I doubt it.
However, could not is not used for future possibilities. We use might not
instead.
Example: He might not come.

Can is used for general facts.

Example: Cycling in towns can be dangerous
Nonetheless, we use will be/will be able to for the future, instead of can.
 Other uses of modal auxiliary verbs, present and past:
Obligation Advice Permission
Can / Could / and May /Might = ask
Must / have to = strong
Should is used to express for permission
obligation
advice or milder obligation
The past is should have. Can I borrow your pen?
I must finish this project by
Could I use your phone to make a quick
tomorrow.
call?
We have to wear a uniform at this If you're feeling overwhelmed,
school. you should talk to someone you
May sounds more formal than could
trust.
Might is extremely formal.
Needn´t or Didn’t need to = I should have studied harder for
absence of oblicagiton the exam.
May I leave the table for a moment?
Might I be excused from class early
You needn't wait for me, I'll be
today?
quick.
She studied all night, but she didn't
The past of may and can is “was
need to, the test was easy.
allowed to”

I was allowed to stay up late to watch

the movie.
 Other uses of modal auxiliary verbs, present and past:

Refusal and Habit/

Ability willingness Characteristic
Can = general ability behaviour.
Won’t expresses refusal , also we use
The past is could
it for inanimate things that are not Will = express habitual or
functioning properly. characteristic behaviour
This machine can print double-sided
The past is wouldn’t The past is would.
documents.
Dinosaurs could not fly.
I won't be able to come to the I will always make my bed in the
party tonight, I have to work late. morning.
“was able” or ”managed to” is
We would never miss an episode of
accepted to express a particular
The car won’t start, the lights were our favorite show.
ability on one occasion in the past.
on for hour.

She was able to finish the marathon They wouldn't let me into the
despite the heat. concert without a ticket.
The team managed to complete the
project on time.