The modal verbs can (could), may (might) to express an offer and request

—   Hello, boys and girls! My name is James Wilson.

—   And my name is Martin Green. My neighbor Michael is also with us today.

—   Welcome to our grammar lesson!

—   Today we would like to tell you one story, which happened to us last week.

—   It was Saturday, so we decided to take a short trip to London.

—   Martin, James and I were so excited about that.

—   We decided to go by car.

James was driving the car when suddenly he, Martin and Michael saw a billboard.

—   After the three of us saw that billboard, we were horrified.

—   Martin, Michael and I even decided to stop the car.

—   Let’s look at that billboard and read the information on it.

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

“Dear, friends! My name is Robert. I lost my dog Rex five weeks ago.

Must you help me to find it, please? I could offer $500 for your help!

Don’t be indifferent, please! Call me if you have any information.

My phone number is 463-26-06.”

—   As you can see, the author made two serious mistakes.

—   He needed to write the modal verb “could” instead of “must”, because we are talking about a request.

—   Robert also needed to use “can” instead of “could”.

Now I think you understand that today in the lesson we will:

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

·        talk about the modal verbs “can”, “could”, “may” and “might” to express an offer or request;

And

·        do the quiz.

—   Let’s start our lesson.

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

—   After that we will discuss when we need to use the modal verb “can”, “could”, “may” or “might” to express an offer and request.

Modal verbs are verbs which we use to express ability, necessity, obligation, duty, request, permission, advice, desire, probability, possibility, etc.

They need to be accompanied by another main verbs.

Pay attention! Modal verbs always take base form of a verb with them.

For example:

Joan, you should ask your husband about this incident.

Or

Zoe, you can take my green coat if you want.

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

Modal verbs are sometimes called defective verbs, because they don’t have all the

functions of 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.

Modal verbs form questions without the help of the other auxiliary verbs.

For instance:

Julia, I don’t feel well! Could you stop the car, please?

Or

Phillis, my dress is wet. Can I take yours, please?

—   Now let’s talk about the modal verbs “can”, “could”, “may” and “might” to express an offer or request.

Requests in English are usually made in the form of questions. Let’s look at their structure. We put the modal verb in first place. Then we need to put the subject. After that we need to use the main verb.

For instance:

Can I play computer games after I do my homework?

Or

Could you wash the dishes, please?

When we want to make a request, we can use one of the following modal verbs “can”, “could”, “may” or “might”.

For example:

Megan, can I take your credit card?

Uncle Frank, could you help me, please?

Kyle, may I use your car, please?

Or

Mr. Williams, might I stay at your house for two more days?

Pay attention! When we make requests, we cannot use the word “may” if “you” is the subject.

Let’s compare the following two examples:

1. May you explain this grammar rule to me again, please?

And

2. Could you explain this grammar rule to me again, please?

The wrong variant.

The right variant.

If you make a request, don’t forget about the word “please”. It’s not obligatory, but it makes the request more polite and less direct. English people use “please” very often when they ask for something.

Let’s look at the example.

—   Hello, Norman. Could you give me your camera, please? I want to take some photos of my daughter. She has a concert tonight.

—   Sure, Bobby. No problem.

Now let’s put the modal verbs “can”, “could”, “may” and “might” in order according to the degree of politeness and formality. We will put the word “may” in the first place, because this modal verb has the highest degree. “Might” takes the second place. The modal verb “could” takes the third place. And the word “can” takes the last place, because it has the lowest degree of politeness and formality.

Let’s compare the following two sentences:

1. Jennifer, can I take your necklace, please? It will suit my dress well.

And

2. Jennifer, may I take your necklace, please? It will suit my dress well.

(In the 2^nd sentence we used the modal verb “may”. That’s why this sentence sounds more polite and formal than the 1^st one).

We can also use the modal verbs “can”, “could”, “may” and “might” when we want to make an offer.

Let’s look at the examples.

Can I carry your suitcase, Mrs. Snow?

Peter, I could drive you to the railway station.

Rick, may I offer you a cup of green tea?

Or

Susan, I might give you a lift. Of course, if you don’t mind.

—   Guys, we have told you about the modal verbs “can”, “could”, “may” and “might” to express an offer or request.

—   Now we would like to check your knowledge.

—   Let’s do the quiz.

Question number 1.

Which facts about modal verbs are true?

a) Modal verbs form questions with the help of the other auxiliary verbs.

b) Modal verbs always take base form of a verb with them.

c) They don’t need to be accompanied by another main verbs.

d) Modal verbs can form gerunds or participles.

e) They can be used to form adjectives or adverbs.

f) Modal verbs don’t have any endings.

The right variants are b and f.

Question number 2.

Why are modal verbs sometimes called defective verbs? There's more than one right answer here.

a) Because they cannot be used without a main verb.

b) Because they don’t have all the functions of main verbs.

c) Because they cannot form gerunds or participles.

d) Because they cannot be used without an auxiliary verb.

e) Because they don’t have any endings to show person, number or tense.

f) Because they cannot form adjectives or adverbs.

The right variants are a, b, c and e.

Question number 3.

Which modal verbs can we use to express an offer or request?

a) may, can, must, could.

b) may, can, might, could.

c) may, might, must, could.

d) may, might, can, should.

The right variant is b.

Question number 4.

Which modal verb has the highest degree of politeness and formality?

a) May.

b) Can.

c) Could.

d) Might.

The right variant is a.

Question number 5.

Which modal verb has the lowest degree of politeness and formality?

a) Could.

b) Might.

c) Can.

d) May.

The right variant is c.

Question number 6.

Which sentence sounds more polite and formal?

a) Christopher, could you turn off your mobile phone, please?

b) Edward, might you cook something delicious, please?

c) Brandon, can you tell me where the bus station is?

d) Charles, may I borrow your multicolored umbrella, please?

The right variant is d.

Question number 7.

Which structure do we need to use when we want to make a request?

a) Modal verb + subject + main verb.

b) Main verb + subject + modal verb.

c) Modal verb + main verb + subject.

d) Subject + modal verb + main verb.

The right variant is a.

—   Guys, now you know when we need to use the modal verbs “can”, “could”, “may” and “might” to express an offer or request.

—   We have also taught you how to do that in a polite way.

—   Don’t forget that being polite is very important, both in your personal and professional life.

—   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.