Modal VerbsIntroduction to Simple and Perfect Modal Verbs. Intermediate level.

Ability:CAN / BE ABLE / CAN’T /COULD

•In the present: “I can drive” / “I can’t speak German”.

•In any tense: “I have been able to open the tin”

•In the past: “I could ride a bike for hours when I was

younger”

Request – ask & give permission: CAN /WOULD/ COULD /

MAY• Informal request Can you pass me the sugar, please?

• Formal request Would you send me the documents by email?

• Polite request Excuse me, Could you tell me the way to the post

office, please? • Polite request

May I have the menu, please?• Give permission:

You can go out if you want. You may leave the class when the bell rings.

Possibility: CAN/COULD/MAY/MIGHT

•Probable:▫I think we can easily find an agreement

•Less probable:▫I am not sure but we could meet one of

these days▫They say it may snow in Seville next

weekend•Even less probable:

▫Who knows? She might like your idea

Offer – Suggestion:SHALL / WOULD / COULD /CAN

•Offer:▫I shall do the activity on the board▫Would you like a cup of coffee?

•Suggestion:▫Shall we go to the cinema?▫You can drink some water if you’re thirsty

•Polite suggestion:▫You could try and stop smoking

Obligation-Prohibition: MUST / HAVE TO / MUSTN’T

•Obligation:▫You must come to class on weekdays.▫I have to study hard to pass this term.

•Prohibition:▫Students mustn’t bring mobile phones to

school

Necessity-lack of obligation/necessity:

NEED TO/ NEEDN’T/DON’T HAVE TO•Necessity:

▫I need to understand what’s happening to us.

•Lack of necessity:▫You needn’t give anything in return.▫You don’t need to be so nasty

•Lack of obligation:▫You don’t have to pay for that, it’s free

Inference:MUST / CAN’T

•Positive certainty that something is true:▫She must be living in this neighbourhood

because I see her everyday at the baker’s.•Negative conclusion or disbelief:

▫Look! That’s Mary’s car! –No, It can’t be her car, she has recently left the city.

Advice: SHOULD/ OUGHT TO / HAD

BETTER•Advice, opinion:▫They should pay more attention to the

explanations▫You ought to reconsider your decision

•Colloquial speaking:▫You’d better go to the dentist if that

toothache continues.•Warnings:

▫You’d better not touch my Wii.

Modal Perfect• Inference for the Past:

▫He must have left because the lights are off• Guess about a past action:

▫He may/might have taken the tube if he missed the bus

• Regret about something undone in the past:▫He could have said he was sorry▫I would have done it if I had had the chance

• Criticism after an event:▫ You should/ought to have woken me up earlier

• An unnecessary past action:▫ You needn’t have bothered to bring anything for

dinner