Модальные глаголы

Modal Verbs

Беликова Лариса Евгеньевна Предуниверситарий НИЯУ МИФИ

• Can, could, may, might, would, must, have to, should, ought to, need, shall, will

Modal verbs:

• Take no ‘s’ in the third person except for ‘have to’ and ‘need’. Ex . Sam can play football very well.
• Come before the subject in questions and are followed by ‘not’ in negations. Ex . May I take your pen? I can not come, I am sorry.
• Followed by an infinitive without ‘to’ ex . We must study well.

Modal Verbs are used to express ability, possibility, permission, probability, obligation, advice, logical assumption, requests, offers, suggestions, criticism, prohibition or necessity.

Obligation

• Must is used to talk about rules, regulations and obligations (internally)

ex . I must lose some weight.

• Have to is used to talk about things that are obligatory or necessary. These obligations are imposed on the speaker by other people.

Ex. You have to wait.

Prohibition We use mustn’t and can’t for prohibition. Ex. You mustn’t feed the animals in the zoo. You can’t enter the club without a card.

Permission We use can (informal),could (more formal), may, might (very formal) for permission. Ex. You can use my mobile.

Advice We use should, ought to, had better for advice and recommendations. Ex. You should stop smoking. You ought to treat animals kindly. You had better call your parents.