MODALS
Basic modals • can • could • had better • may • might • must • ought to • shall • should • will • would Phrasal modals • be able to • be going to • be supposed to • have got to • used to
Polite requests with “I” as the subjec • May I (please) borrow your pen? • Could I borrow your pen (please)? • Can I borrow your pen? • Might I borrow your pen? Typical responses. • Certainly. Yes, certainly. • Of course. Yes, of course. • Sure.
Polite requests with “You” as the subject • Would you pass the salt (please)? • Will you (please) pass the salt? • Could you pass the salt (please)? • Can you (please) pass the salt? Typical responses: • Yes, I’d be happy to • Certainly. • Sure.
Polite requests withwould you mind “ ” • Would you mind if I closed the window? Typical responses: • No, not at all. • No, of course not. • No, that would be fine. • Excuse me. Would you mind closing the window? Typical responses: • No. I’d be happy to. • Not at all. I’d be glad to. • Sure. • Okay.
Expressing necessity: must, have to, have got to • . All applicants must take an entrance exam. • All applicants have to take an entrance exam. • I’m looking for Sue. I have to talk to Sue about one lunch day tomorrow. • Where’s Sue? I must talk to her right away. I have an urgent message for her. • I have got to go know. • I have to go know. • Present or Future: I have to / have got to/ must study tonight. • Past: I had to study last night.
Lack of necessity and prohibition: have to and must in the negative Lack of necessity: • Tomorrow is a holiday. We don’t have to go to class. • I can hear you. You don’t have to shout. Prohibition: • You must not look in the closet. Your birthday present is hidden here. • You must not tell anyone my secret.
Advisability: should, ought to, had better • You should study harder. • You ought to study harder. • You shouldn’t leave your keys in the car. • I ought to study tonight, but I think I’ll watch TV instead. • The gas tank is almost empty. We had better stop at the next service station. • You’d better take care of it. • You’d better not be late.
The past form ofshould • I didn’t do well on my test. I should have studied last night. • We were worried about you. You should have called us. • My back hurts. I should not have carried that heavy box up two flights of stairs. • We went to a movie, bit it wasn’t good. We should not have gone to the movie.
Expectations: be supposed to • The game is supposed to begin at 10: 00. • The committee is supposed to vote by secret ballot. • I am supposed to go to the meeting. My boss told me that he wants me to attend. • Jack was supposed to call me last night. I wonder why he didn’t.
Making suggestions: let’s, why don’t, shall I/we • Let’s go to a movie. • Let’s not go to a movie. • Why don’t we go to a movie? • Why don’t you come home around seven? • Why don’t I give Mary a call? • Shall I open the window? Is that okay with you? • Let’s go, shall we? • Let’s go, okay?
Making suggestions: could vs should -What should we do tomorrow? • Why don’t we go on a picnic? • We could go on a picnic. - I’m having a trouble in math class. • You should talk to your teacher. • Maybe you should talk to your teacher. • You could talk to your teacher. - I failed my math class. • You should have talked to your teacher and gotten some help from her during the term. • You could have talked to your teacher. Or you could have asked Ann to help you.
Thank you for your attention!
