Grammaire

Introduction

          In English grammar, modal verbs belong to the larger category of auxiliary verbs. Therefore, they share some grammatical characteristics with the auxiliary verbs. English modal verbs are a special group of verbs that help to give a special meaning to a full verb and help to express the accurate mood of the information hidden within the utterance. They have many specific features that differentiate them from full verbs. Thanks to them the full verb indicates the right type of modality that is: ability, duty, obligation, possibility, suggestion, feeling, opinion, advisability or arrangement and the seeker /speaker is able to express a large scale of various smaller or bigger changes in temper as well differentiate one’s state of mind.

1. Definition of Mood and Modality

        Before we approach the term modal verbs, it is worth to mention the meaning of the mood and modality. The latter term is a kind of mood that the modal helps to create with the main verb in order to change the communicative function. To be linguistically precise, modality covers the functions of modal verbs, and can be defined as the manner to which the meaning of a clause is qualified so as to reflect the speaker’s judgment of the likely hood of the preposition it expresses. Finally, modals are so called because they express the mood, such as the opinion or attitude of the speaker towards what is being said.

  2. Definition of Modal Verbs

         A modal verb is a special type of verb functioning as an essential linguistic device when the insertion of which into a non-modal environment help to create a different understanding of the whole utterance. A modal verb is an auxiliary verb that can be used to change the grammatical mood of a sentence. The key way to identify a modal verb is by its defectiveness (they have neither participles nor infinitives). Modals are used to express various moods and mental attitudes of the speaker or writer. Modals are otherwise called "modal auxiliary", "helping verb", "supporting verb", or "secondary auxiliary" and they primarily mark modality. The modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that provide additional, special and specific semantic meaning or change the meaning when used with the main verb in the sentence. Modal auxiliaries are auxiliary verbs that lend different shades of meaning to the main verb to which they are attached.

        The main idea of modals is that we do not normally use them to say that situations definitely exist or that particular events have definitely happened. We use them, for example, to talk about things which we expect, which are or are not possible, which we think are necessary, which we want to happen, which we are not sure about, which tend to happen, or which have not happened. So the use of modals is imprecise. Further clarification to this is, the use of various modal verbs to give the ideas of possibility, impossibility, necessity, willingness, certainty, uncertainty, expectation ……………. See the table and examples below for more details about the structure of sentences with modals:

Subject	Modal Verb	Infinitive without to	Complement
I, we, you, she, he,   It, john, Ann, Stephan, Maria	can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, ought to, must, need, used	go	To sleep
		drink	Some water
		eat	Some food
		do	Some exercise

 

·        He may arrive at any time.

·        She could be in London or Paris.

·        I think you ought to see a lawyer.

·        You may have told me Frances was ill.

Important Reminder: Modals are special auxiliary verbs that express the attitude of the speaker. In short, modal verbs are 'moody verbs'. For example, modal verbs indicate subtle shades of meaning concerning such things as the likelihood of an event or the moral obligation of an event. The most frequent modal verbs in English are as follows: will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, need, dare, ought to and must.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Principal Features of Modal Auxiliaries

        They are the rebels of English verbs because they don’t follow the standard rules of the rest of the thousands of verbs we find in English. This type of verbs has certain principal features in which it significantly differs from the full verb and also from its relative, the primary auxiliary verb. Those features are listed below.

§  Both auxiliary and main verbs carry tense information and participate in the same syntactic constructions,

§  Modals are not inflected in the third person in the sense that there is no subject-verb agreement. Modal do not accept conjugation. They do not have "s" in the third person singular. Consequently, they do not change form "have only one form". Modal verbs are generally only used in the present tense in English but we don’t add an -s in the third person singular. See the examples below:

·        She may know his address.

·        He must learn the lesson.

·        They should see the doctor very soon.

§  They function as auxiliary verbs: they modify the meaning of another verb, which they govern. This verb generally appears as a bare infinitive “the base form of the verb alone”, although in some definitions a modal verb can also govern the to-infinitive (as in the case of ought).

§  Modals are used with the base form of the verb to create verbal phrases.

§  Modals do not take an auxiliary in questions, negatives, tags and short answers are made without do. They are negated by the addition of “n’t” or “not”. They are not added to “don’t” as other verbs. These are called anomalous finites because they are different in some way from what is normal. Examples:

·        Can you swim? Yes, I can.

·        She must not finish the work.

·        He should not be doing that, should he?

·        I cannot swim in this cold sea.

§  They are inverted with the subject to form a question without using “do”. For example, the interrogative sentence is “Should I do it?” but not “Do I should do it?”

§  Modals are always used with main verbs "except for short answers and question tags". The main verb is used in the infinitive without "to". Ought is an exception. See the examples below:

·        I must water the flowers.

·        I may not be working tomorrow.

§  They have the syntactic properties associated with auxiliary verbs in English, principally that they can undergo subject–auxiliary inversion (in questions, for example) and can be negated by the appending of not after the verb.

§  Modals are defective in the sense that they do not have non-finite forms. Modal verbs do not have infinitives or participles, and they do not normally have past forms "though would, could, should and might can sometimes be used as past tenses of will, can, shall and may". Other expressions are used when necessary. See the examples below:

·        I would like to be able to skate. "Not to can skate"

·        People really had to work hard in those days.

§  However, certain past ideas can be expressed by a modal verb followed by a perfect infinitive "have + past participle". See the examples below:

·        You should have told me you were coming.

·        I think I may have annoyed you.

§  Modal verbs do not have all tenses. They use other verbs to complete the tenses such as can is completed by be able to, must is completed by have to …………….

·        They can play the piano. = They will be able to play the piano in the future.

·        You must come early. = You had to come early yesterday.

§  They can’t co-occur. In other words, two modal verbs can’t be used simultaneously so the correct form is “He may come” or “He will come” instead of “He may will come”

 

4. May and Can for Permission and Possibility

4. 1. Permission

4. 2. Form

·        May	·        Can
·        May for all persons in the present and future ·        Might in the conditional and after verbs in a past tense ·        Negative: may not / might not ·        Interrogative: may I? / might I? ·        May is followed by the bare infinitive.	·        Can for all persons in the present and future. ·        Could for past and conditional ·        Negative: cannot / could not ·        Interrogative: can I? / could I? ·        Can is followed by the bare infinitive.

 

4. 3. May and Can Used for Permission in the Present or Future

4. 3. 1. A: First Person

Ø I / we can is the most usual form: see the example below:

·        I can take a day off whenever I want.

Ø I / we may mean "I or we have permission to ……………" is possible:

·        I may leave the office as I have finished.

Ø I / we may or might is a little more usual in indirect speech:

·        You may leave when you have finished.

4. 3. 2. B: Second Person

Ø Here may is chiefly used when the speaker is giving permission. See the example below:

·        You may park here. It means that I give you permission to park. It does not normally mean the police or someone else allows you to park or you have a right to park.

Ø Can in this case, can be used as an informal alternative to may. But it can also be used to express the idea of having permission. So to say:

·        You can park here. In this case can mean. I, the police, or somebody also allow or you have a right to park here. Similarly

·        You can take two books home with you can mean I allow it, the library allow it.

4. 3. 3. C: Third Person

Ø May in this case, can be used as in B above when the speaker is giving permission. See the examples below:

·        He may take my car. It means that I give him permission to take it.

·        They may phone the office and reverse the charges. It means I give them permission.

Ø It is worth to mention here that this construction is chiefly used in impersonal statements concerning authority and permission. See the examples below:

·        In certain circumstances a police officer may = has the right to ask a driver to take a breath test.

·        You cannot eat here in the library. It means that I do not allow, the library does not allow or it is not the proper thing to do.

Note 2 Ø Could or was / were allowed to for permission in the past. See the example below: ·        On Sundays we could –were allowed to – stay up late. Ø When a particular action was permitted and performed we use was or were allowed to instead of could. See the example below: ·        I had a visa so I was allowed to cross the frontier. Ø Could not- however can be used a little more widely used than could. See the example below: ·        We could not bring our dog into the restaurant. While the opposite of this would be: we were allowed to bring etc.

 

1.     Can and Could

§  The modal verb “can” expresses possibility. That is, in terms of innate ability, permissibility, or possible circumstance. For example:

·        I can speak English means “I am able to speak English” or “I know how to speak English”.

·        You can smoke here means “you may (are permitted to) smoke here” (in formal English may or might is sometimes considered more correct than can or could in these senses).

§  Both “can” and “could” can be used to make requests:

·        Can/could you pass me the cheese? It means “Please pass me the cheese” (where could indicates greater politeness).

§  The use of “could with the perfect infinitive expresses past ability or possibility, either in some counterfactual circumstance (I could have told him if I had seen him), or in some real circumstance where the act in question was not in fact realized:

·        I could have told him yesterday (but in fact I didn't). The use of can with the perfect infinitive,

§  The negative forms reverse the meaning of the modal (to express inability, impermissibility or impossibliity). This differs from the case with “may” or “might”  used to express possibility: it can't be true has a different meaning than it may not be true. Thus can't (or cannot) is often used to express disbelief in the possibility of something, as must expresses belief in the certainty of something. When the circumstance in question refers to the past, the form with the perfect infinitive is used: he can't (cannot) have done it means “I believe it impossible that he did it” (compare he must have done it).

 

4. 4. 1. May /Might for Possibility

Ø It can express possibility in the present or future. Examples:

·        He may / might tell his wife. Perhaps he tells or will tell his wife.

·        He may / might emigrate.

Ø Normally either forms can be used for present for future possibility, might slightly increase the doubt. You should note that in speech we can also indicate increased doubt by stressing may /might. See the examples below:

·        Tom may lend you the money. This construction with a strong stress on May implies that this is not very likely.

·        Tom might lend you the money. This construction with a strong stress on might implies this meaning –I do not think. I think it is unlikely.

§  The preterite form “might” is used as a synonym for “may when expressing possible circumstance (as can could – see above). It is sometimes said that might and “could” express a greater degree of doubt than “may”. For uses of “might” in conditional sentences, and as a past equivalent to “may” in such contexts as indirect speech, see Past forms above.

§  May (or might) can also express irrelevance in spite of certain or likely truth: He may be taller than I am, but he is certainly not stronger could mean “While it is (or may be) true that he is taller than I am, that does not make a difference, as he is certainly not stronger.”

§  May “can” indicate presently given permission for present or future actions: You may go now. “Might” used in this way is milder: You might go now if you feel like it. Similarly May I use your phone? Is a request for permission (might would be more hesitant or polite).

§  A less common use of “may” is to express wishes, as in

·        May you live long and happy or

·        May the Force be with you

§  The meaning of the negated form depends on the usage of the modal. When possibility is indicated, the negation effectively applies to the main verb rather than the modal:

·        That may/might not be means “That may/might not-be”, i.e. “That may fail to be true”.

§  But when permission is being expressed, the negation applies to the modal or entire verb phrase: You may not go now means “You are not permitted to go now” (except in rare cases where not and the main verb are both stressed to indicate that they go together: You may go or not go, whichever you wish).

Ø May or Might not + Perfect Infinitive is another construction. This construction is used in speculations about past actions. The word "Might" must be used when the main verb is in a past tense. In addition, it is worth to mention that might, not may, must be used when the uncertainty no longer exist. Another idea, might not may, is also used when the matter was never put to the test. See the examples below for more clarification:

·        He may /might have left. "It means that it is possible that he went or perhaps he left".

·        He said that she might have missed the train. "After the main verb in the past"

·        He came back home alone. "You should not have let him do that, he might have lost. But he did not get lost; the uncertainty here does no longer exist".

·        Perhaps we should have taken the other stream. It might have been quicker. "this stream has not yet tested"

·        It is a good thing you did not lend him the money. You might never have got it back.

Ø May /might can be used in conditional sentences instead of will /would to indicate a possible instead of a certain result. See the examples below:

·        If he recognizes you he will stop. ""Certain"

·        If he recognizes you he may stop. "possible" 

Summary

 

Exercise 1

Fill in the spaces with the right modal in the following sentences by inserting either must or may with justification.

1.     I want to visit a near new town which has only one main road. I try the first long one which ……1…….be the right road while the second short ……2……….be the right one.

2.     It is long time I have not met my student. He……3…….be ill but it is the period of exam so he …4...be revising.

3.     My uncle has a big house in Paris and another palace in New York. All the people think that he ……5…….be very rich since it is very hard to have such precious possession.

4.     I always go to school by either car or bus. As usual I …….6……travel by car but since it is broken so I ………7……..use the bus instead.

5.     Tom has not answered my call. He ……..8……..be very right now busy suddenly I see an ambulance in his house so he ……..9……….very ill.

6.     He develops his own films by his own means. That ….10…….. save a lot of money.

Exercise 2

Fill in the blanks below with either can or could to complete the sentences.

1.     I …………. go to the party last night because I was sick.

2.     A: ………..Noel cook Italian food? B: Yes, he………………..

3.     My sister ……………swim last year, but now she……………...

4.     They ………….. go shopping yesterday because the store was closed.

5.     A: ………….. you read when you were four years old? B: Yes, I………………

6.     Ellie ……….. ride a bicycle. She rides it to school every day.

7.     I’m very tired, so I ………….. go out to the park to play.

8.     A: …………you see the moon last night? B: No, I…………...

9.     When …………… I talk to you about the company report?

10. Most dinosaurs walked on land, but some ………….. fly or even swim.

11. Excuse me, I ……………. hear you right now. The music is too loud.

12. I …………. drive a truck when I was only sixteen years old.

13. Douglas hit the tree because he ………..stop his car.

14. How many hot dogs ……………. you eat at one time?

15. I …………… read without my reading glasses. Where are they?

 

Exercise 3

Put in 'can' / 'can't' / 'could' / 'couldn't'. If none is possible, use 'be able to' in the correct tense.

1.     ……………..you swim when you were 10?

2.     We ……………. get to the meeting on time yesterday because the train was delayed by one hour.

3.     He …………… arrive at the party on time, even after missing the train, so he was very pleased.

4.     He's amazing. He ………….. speak 5 languages including Chinese.

5.     I………drive a car until I was 34, then I moved to the countryside so I had to learn.

6.     I looked everywhere for my glasses but I …………find them anywhere.

7.     I searched for your house for ages. Luckily, I …………find it in the end.

8.     She's 7 years old but she……..read yet – her parents are getting her extra lessons.

9.     I read the book three times but I ………….. understand it.

10. James …………. speak Japanese when he lived in Japan, but he's forgotten most of it now.

11. I …….understand the chapter we had to read for homework. It was so difficult.

12. I ………….. lift this box – it's too heavy! Would you help me?

13. Lucy …….make it to our meeting after all. She's stuck in traffic at the moment.

14. John ……….. play tennis really well. He's champion of his club.

15. Unfortunately, I really …… sing at all! No-one in my family is musical either.

16. When the car broke down, I was really pleased because I … solve the problem.

17. Julian ……….. play excellent golf when he was only ten.

18. My grandmother ……….. use a computer until last month. Since then, she's been taking lessons at the library.

19. I ………..open this window. I think it's stuck!

20. Gill …………. play the piano. She's never studied it.