The Verbs can, could, may, might, will,would, shall, should, must, used to and ought to are called
modal
verbs or modals. They are used before ordinary verbs and express meanings such as permission.
Possibility, Certainty and necessity. Need and dare can sometimes be used like modal verbs.
CAN,COULD,MAY,MIGHT
● Can usually expresses ability or capacity;
I can swim across the river.
Can you lift this box?
● Can and may are used to express permission. May is rather formal.
You can/may go now.
Can/May I borrow your umbrella?
● May is used to express possibility in affirmative sentences. Can is used in the corresponding
interrogative and negative sentences.
It may rain tomorrow.
He may be at home.
Can this be true?
It cannot be true.
Comparison - “it cannot be ture’ with “it may not be true”. Cannot denotes impossibility, while may
not denotes improbability.
● In very formal English, may is used to express a wish.
May you live happily and long!
May success attend you!
● Could and might are used as the past equivalents of can and May;
I Could swim across the river when I was young. (Ability)
He said I might/could go. (Permission)
I thought he might be at home. (Possibility)
She wondered whether it could be true. (Possibility)
● In present time contexts could & might are used as less positive versions of can and may:
I could attend the party. (Less positive and more hesitant than ‘I can attend the Party.’)
Might/Could I borrow your bicycle? (A different way of saying May/Can I…)
It might rain tomorrow. (Less positive than ‘It may rain.’)
Could you pass me the salt. (Polite request)
● Might is also used to express a degree of dissatisfaction or reproach;
You might pay a little more attention to your appearance.
SHALL, SHOULD, WILL, WOULD
● Shall is used in the first person and will in all persons to express a pure future. Today I/we
shall is less common than I/we will;
I shall/will be twenty five next birthday.
We will need the money on the 15th.
When shall we see you again?
Tomorrow will be sunday.
You will see that I am right.
In present day English, however, there is a growing tendency to use will in all persons.
● Shall is sometimes used in the second and third persons to express a command, a promise or
threat;
He shall not enter my house again. (command)
You shall have a holiday tomorrow. (promise)
You shall be punished for this. (Threat)
These uses of shall are old-fashioned and formal and generally avoided in modern English.
● Questions with shall I/we are used to ask the will of the person addressed;
Shall I open the door? (Do you want me to open the door?)
Which pen shall I buy? (what is your advice?)
● Will is used to express
a) Volition;
I will (am willing to) carry your books.
I will (promise to) try to do better next time.
I will (am determined to) succeed or die in the attempt.
b) Characteristic habit;
He will talk about nothing but films.
She will sit for hours listening to the wireless.
c) Assumption or Probability:
This will be the book you want, I suppose.
That will be the postman, I think.
● ‘Will you?’ indicates an invitation or a request;
Will you have tea?
Will you lend me your scooter?
● Should and Would are used as the past equivalents of shall and will;
I expected that I should (more often would) get a first class.
He said he would be twenty five next birthday.
She said she would carry my books.
She would sit for hours listening to the wireless. (Past habit)
● Should is used in all persons to express duty or obligation;
We should obey the laws.
You should keep your promise.
Children should obey their parents.
● In Clauses of condition, should is used to express a supposition that may not be true.
If it should rain, they will not come.
If he should see me here, he will be annoyed.
● Should and Would are also used as ini the examples below.
a) I should (or:would) like you to help her. (“should/would like” is a polite form of “want”)
b) Would you lend me your scooter, please? (“Would you” is more polite than ‘will you?’)
c) You should have been more careful. (Should + Perfect infinitive indicates a past obligation that
was not fulfilled.)
d) He should be in the library now. (Express probability)
e) I wish you would not chatter so much. (Would after wish expresses a strong desire)
MUST, OUGHT TO
● Must is used to express necessity or obligation.
You must improve your spelling.
We must get up early.
● Must refers to the present or the near future. To talk about the past we use ‘had to’ (the past form
of have to); must has no past form.
Yesterday we had to get up early.
● Must is often used when the obligation comes from the speaker. When the obligation comes from
somewhere else, have to is often used.
I must be on a diet. (It is my own idea.)
I have to be on a diet. (The doctor has told me to be on a diet.)
● Must can also express logical certainty. Living in such crowded conditions must be difficult. (I am
sure it is difficult.) She must have left already. (I am sure she has left already.)
● Ought to expresses moral obligation or desirability;
We ought to love our neighbors.
We ought to help him.
You ought to know better.
● Ought to can also be used to express probability;
Prices ought to come down soon.
This book ought to be very useful.
USED TO, NEED, DARE
● Used to express a discontinued habit.
There used to be a house.
I used to live there when I was a boy.
Used to as an auxiliary verb is old-fashioned and very formal. Today we normally did in negatives
& questions.
Did you use to swim?
● The auxiliary need, denoting necessity or obligation, can be conjugated with or without do. When
conjugated without do, it has no -s and –ed forms and is used with and infinitive without to only in
negative and interrogative sentences that contain semi-negative words like ‘scarcely’ and
‘hardly’.
He need not go. (It is not necessary for him to go.)
Need i write to him?
I need hardly take his help.
● When conjugated with do, need has the usual forms needs, needed and is used with a
to-infinitive. It is commonly used in negatives and questions; It sometimes occurs in the
affirmative also.
Do you need to go now?
I don’t need to meet him.
One needs to be careful.
Comparison:
a) I did not need to buy it. (it was not necessary for me to buy it and i didn’t buy it.)
b) I needn’t have bought it. (it was not necessary for me to buy it, but i bought it.)
● The auxiliary dare (be brave enough to), as distinct from the ordinary verb dare (challenge), does
not take -s in the third person singular present tense. It is generally used in negative and
interrogative sentences. When conjugated without do, it is followed by an infinitive without to;
when conjugated with do, It takes an infinitive with or without to after it.
He dare not take such a step.
How dare you contradict me?
He dared not do it.
He doesn’t dare speak to me.