Revision of English modal verbs

—   Hello, our dear friends! My name is James Wilson. This is Martin Green.

—   And my name is Nathaniel Fleming.

—   Welcome to our grammar lesson!

—   Yesterday the three of us decided to go for a walk.

—   We go for a walk every day, because fresh air is necessary for our health. And we think that all people should take care of themselves like we do.

—   Martin, please, continue telling the story!

—   Oh, I’m sorry. When I start talking about health, I just can’t stop.

—   It’s okay. Just continue.

—   Okay. Well… when we were walking past the school, we saw a school bus filled with pupils.

—   They were teenagers.

—   We also saw a teacher.

—   He was standing near the school with little kids.

—   They were talking about something so loudly.

—   Let’s listen to their conversation.

—   This will help you to guess the topic of our lesson today.

—   Mr. Anderson, why are we standing here?

—   Yeah. I have the same question. The rest of the pupils are already in the bus!

—   We need to hurry, or the bus will leave without us!

—   Kids, don’t worry. The bus won’t go anywhere without us.

—   Oh, okay. But anyway, why are we here?

—   All right! I’ll tell you. As you know, we are going on excursion.

—   Yes, Mr. Anderson, we know that!

—   And it’s our first school trip, so I want to talk to you about the rules.

—   What rules, Mr. Anderson?

—   We will talk about the rules of your behavior during the trip.

—   Oh, okay.

—   First of all, tell me, please, what rules do you know?

—   I know that we may not shout in the bus.

—   That’s right, Bobby. What else?

—   We don’t have to throw the garbage everywhere!

—   Great!

—   We shouldn’t go anywhere without your permission!

—   We don’t have to take dangerous or annoying objects on the bus!

—   That’s right. Kids, you’re so smart!

—   Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

—   All right. Let’s get on the bus now. And don’t forget about the rules.

—   Hooray! Let’s go!

—   And don’t worry, we won’t forget!

—   The kids made so many mistakes in their speech and the teacher didn’t correct their mistakes.

—   That’s why we were in shock!

—   They were discussing the rules of behavior.

—   And as we know, it’s necessary to use the modal verb “must” when we talk about the rules.

As you can understand, today in the lesson we will:

·        revise the definition of the term “modal verb”;

And

·        revise English modal verbs in general.

—   Let’s start our lesson.

—   First of all, we will remind you the definition of the term “modal verb”.

—   After that we will talk about English modal verbs in general.

Modal verb is a verb which is used to express ability, obligation, permission, assumptions, probability, possibility, requests, offers and advice. Each modal verb can have more than one meaning which depends on the context of the sentence.

Modal verb needs to be accompanied by another main verb.

For example:

Elizabeth can play the piano.

Or

Julia should eat more fruits and vegetables.

(In these two sentences we used the modal verbs “can” and “should” which are accompanied by the main verbs “play” and “eat”).

Modal verbs are also called modal auxiliaries or modals. In the English language we have the following modal verbs: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, ought to, have to and need.

For example:

Jessica, you must do your homework every day!

My grandmother could speak seven different languages.

Or

George, do you have to leave right now?

Modal verbs are sometimes called defective verbs, because they don’t have all the functions of the main verbs. They cannot be used without a main verb, cannot form gerunds or participles, and don’t have any endings to show person, number or tense.

—   Now let’s talk about each of the following modal verbs: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, ought to, have to and need.

—   We will remind you when we can use all of them in general.

—   Let’s start with such modal verbs as “may” and “might”.

The verbs “may” and “might” are used mostly as separate modal verbs. Despite this fact, “might” is generally used instead of “may” in cases where the rules of the sequence of tenses require the use of the past tense form of the verb.

We use “may” and “might” to express possibility, to give or ask for permission. We can also use “may” to express wishes.

For instance:

Sir, you may take only one thing.

Or

Kelly might go to the cinema tonight.

The following modal verbs are “can” and “could”. The verb “could” is the past tense form of the word “can”. In general, “could” is considered more polite than “can”.

We can use the modal verbs “can” and “could” to express ability or possibility, to ask for permission, to give permission, to offer to do something or to request something.

For instance:

Helen, you can use my car, because I don’t need it right now!

Or

Liam could try and fix the computer himself.

Now let’s talk about the modal verbs “must” and “have to”.

“Must” is used to express strong obligation, logical conclusion or certainty. We also use this modal verb when we talk about rules, strong and emphatic advice, casual invitations or requirements. If we add particle “not”, we will get “mustn’t” which is used to express prohibition.

The phrase “have to” doesn’t look like a modal verb, but it performs the same function. “Have to” can play the role of “must” in the past, present and future tenses. These words can often be used interchangeably in English.

For instance:

Drivers must stop when the traffic lights turn red.

Or

I don’t like this school, because I have to wear a uniform.

The following modal verbs are “will” and “would”. We can use them to express willingness, intention, persistence, promise, threats, requests and offers. “Will” and “would” are also used to talk about habits or things we usually do or did in the past.

For instance:

Tyler, I think we will accept your offer.

Or

If I were you, I would study literature.

Now let’s talk about the modal verbs “shall” and “should”.

We use “shall” to make offers. “Shall” is used instead of “will” in rather formal context to make predictions and to talk about intentions or decisions. The modal verb “shall” is less common than “will”.

Pay attention! We need to use “should” not “shall” when we want to ask for advice or make suggestions.

We also use “should” to give an opinion and to express a preference or an idea.

For instance:

Felix, I shall give you a laptop for your birthday.

Or

Bryan, you should drink more water instead of coffee.

And the last two verbs are “ought to” and “need”.

“Ought to” is used to express judgment or reproach, or to give a recommendation.

“Need” is used to express necessity or requirement.

For instance:

Eva, you ought to go slowly here, because it’s very slippery!

Or

Mr. Mills, I need to see you right now!

Some modal verbs in English have their non-modal equivalents. These equivalents are the words or word combinations which have the same meanings with them.

For instance:

The equivalent of the modal verb “can” is “to be able to do something”.

The equivalent of the verb “may” is “to be allowed to do something”.

And

The equivalent of the modal verb “must” is “to have to do something”.

Unlike modal verbs, we can use these equivalents to talk not only about the present, but also about the past and future.

For instance:

Megan will be able to do her homework tomorrow.

The boy was allowed to go to bed at 11 p.m.

Or

Noah had to work all night long.

—   Guys, we have revised English modal verbs in general.

—   Now you remember when we can use each of them.

—   That’s all for today, our dear friends.

—   We hope that the lesson was interesting and useful for you.

—   See you soon, boys and girls.