MODALS

STRUCTURE
AFFIRMATIVE:
SUBJECT + MODAL + INFINITIVE VERB
She can sing

NEGATIVE:
SUBJECT + MODAL + NOT + INFINITIVE VERB
She can not sing
QUESTION:
MODAL + SUBJECT + INFINITIVE VERB
Can she sing?
RULES
Dont have all
tenses
Followed by
infinities without
to
No infinitives or
ing forms

No auxiliary
verbs

No
conjugations
 SHALL

TENSES USE EXAMPLE

Shall we begin dinner?
PRESENT
Polite suggestion
volunteering,
FUTURE promising

Shall not
Shant
 WILL It can be replaced
with shall that is more
polite

TENSES USE EXAMPLE

I WILL GO TO A PARTY
PRESENT TOMORROW
PREDICT OR TAKE A
DECISION FOR THE
FUTURE FUTURE

Will not
Wont
 WOULD
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
PAST= Consider past of
will
(MODAL IN PAST) If were president, I would
cut the cost of education.

Conditional If
PRESENT
More polite request and
offers than will

FUTURE
Would not
Woulndt
 WOULD HAVE

TENSES USE EXAMPLE

I would have bought the

car, but I didnt have
Past unreal action money.
MODAL IN PAST
S + M+ PPV

Would not
have
Woulndt
have
Exercises
______ you mind closing the door ?
Will Would

Maybe I ______ speak to her.

Will Would

We ______ see what happens tomorrow.

Will Would

What ______ you like to eat?

Will Would

If I see her I ______ let her know.

Will Would
 TENSES USE
MAY EXAMPLE
PAST (MODAL IN PAST)

.
PRESENT Strong Possibility
Formal Permission
Request

FUTURE

May not
Maynt
 MAY HAVE
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
They may have arrived hours
ago.
[= Perhaps they arrived hours
Something has possibly ago.]
happened now
MODAL IN PAST
S + M+ PPV

May not
have
 MIGHT
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
PAST (MODAL IN PAST)

PRESENT Smaller possibility

More polite than May

FUTURE

Might not
mightn't
 MIGHT HAVE
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
I WAS NOT READY FOR
THE INTERVIEW, SHE
MIGHT HAVE CALLED
BEFORE
Could have happened in
MODAL IN PAST the past
S + M+ PPV

Might not
have
Mightnt
have
Exercises
 CAN
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
PAST (MODAL COULD) I have some free time. I can
help her now.

ability or opportunity
PRESENT
to request or offer permission

to show possibility or
FUTURE (BE ABLE TO) impossibility

willingness
CAN NOT
CANT
 COULD
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
I could speak Chinese when I
was a kid.

Past ability

PAST
Past possibility

Polite request

COULD NOT
COULDNT
BE ABLE TO (NOT
A MODAL)
We look at be able to
here because we sometimes use
it instead of can and could.
"Able" is an adjective meaning:
Ability.
Having the power
Skill
To do something.
 COULD HAVE
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
I could have stayed up late,
Probability in the past but I decided to go to bed
early.

Modal in past Something was possible in the

past, or you had the ability to He couldn't have passed the
do something in the past, but exam, even if he had studied
that you didn't do it. harder. It's a really, really
difficult exam.

Something
wasn't possible
COULD NOT HAVE
in the past, even
COULDNT HAVE
if you had
wanted to do it.
exercises
 SHOULD

TENSES USE BUT NOT A EXAMPLE

PAST(MODAL IN PAST) OBLIGATION

ADVICE
PRESENT RECOMMENDATION
SUGGESTION
OPINION
GOOD IDEA
FUTURE
Should
not
Shouldnt
 SHOULD HAVE
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
You should have called
me when you arrived (=
you didn't call me and I
was worried. I wish that
Something would have been you had called me).
MODAL IN PAST a good idea, but you did it
anyway.

Should not have

Shouldnt have
 OUGHT TO (semi modal)
TENSES USE EXAMPLE
PAST(MODAL IN PAST)

recommendation,
PRESENT advice
assumption,
expectation,
Probability
FUTURE

British="ought
not to," we say Not used in
"ought not." questions
"Ought not"
Americans=
"should not."
 HAD BETTER (semi modal)
Not used in
questions

TENSES USE EXAMPLE

Advice
Recommendation
Desperate hope
warning

FUTURE "had better" is stronger

because it implies a
negative consequence if you
don't follow the advice.

Had
better not
 MUST
TENSES USE EXAMPLE

Past (modal in past)

Present

Future

Must not
Mustnt
 HAVE TO (semi modal) Not used in
questions

TENSES USE EXAMPLE

PAST S+AUX+HAVE TO+VERB+C

S+AUX+NOT+HAVE TO +
Certainty VERB+C
PRESENT Necessity
Obligation
I have to get up at 6am to
go to the University (It is a
FUTURE (WILL HAVE TO) rule because Im studying )

Do not
have to
Dont
have to
EXERCISES
 MUST HAVE
TENSES USE EXAMPLE

They must have left early.

He must have already gone.

Past (modal in past)

We believe something WAS TRUE
in the past