Modal Verbs - Tutorial

Modal Verbs

Rules :

1. Modal verbs cannot be inflected. They do not have –ing or –ed endings.
1. Example :

i. She should walk to school. (√)

ii. She should walking to school. (×)

iii. She should walked to school. (×)

2. Modal verbs can be made negative by adding a “not” or “n’t”.
1. Example :

i. She might not make it on time.

ii. Eliza shouldn’t have answered the door.

iii. Jeremy wouldn’t agree to your suggestion.

3. Many modal verbs cannot be used in the past tense or future tense.
1. Example :

i. She woulded attend classes. (×)

ii. Alex will can graduate from the training programme. (×)

4. Modal verbs are always followed by the basic form of the main verb or by be and have.
1. Example :

i. Blair will be in Paris this summer.

ii. Daniel might attend summer school.

iii. Nikita could take down the whole division

5. In question form, the modal is normally at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the subject and then by the basic form of the verb.
1. Example :

i. May I go to the library now?

ii. Should Alexis take Human Development this semester?

Common modal verbs and their meanings

Modal	Meaning
Can (present) Could (past) * will be able to (future)	Ability (Is able to)
Can/ could	Polite request
Can/ could	Offer
Can/ could	Possibility
Can (present) Could (past)	Permission
Could	Suggestion

Modal	Meaning
May/ might	Request (British form)
May	Give or refuse permission
May/ might	Possibility
Might	Suggestion

Modal	Meaning
Must	Certainty
Must	Obligation
Must	Strong recommendation

Modal	Meaning
Should/ ought to	Recommendation/ advice
Should be/ ought to be	Expectation
Shouldn’t	Suggestion
Should (not) have/ ought (not) to have	Regret
Should	Obligation

Modal	Meaning
Will/ shall	Future action
Will	Determination
Will	Make a promise

Modal	Meaning
Would (past)	Promise made
	Past habits
Would	Acceptance
	Polite request
	Promise made
	Conditional