Mad About Modals!

Swati Rai

 Grammatical mood of a sentence is what tells us the main purpose of the sentence or what is it up to? That is, whether it’s stating a fact, a habit, giving an advice, a command or a suggestion. Principal modal verbs like ‘can’, ‘may’, must, should, will, are words that express permission, requests, likelihood (How likely it is for something to happen), advice, or obligation (The need or duty to complete a particular job) or ability. These verbs are auxiliary verbs that conjugate with a main verb in a sentence and they can’t necessarily be used on their own. Not ‘necessarily’ because, sometimes when the context makes it clear, a modal verb may be used alone.   

Since there are no main verb compulsions on modals, they do not have participle or infinitive forms. Also, key to remember here is that modal verbs do not inflect, except as some of them come in present–past pairs- can /could; shall/should and such like. They also do not add the ending -(e)s in the third-person singular. Quasi-modals such as ‘dare’, ‘need (not)’, ‘ought to’, ‘had better/best’, are used with the infinitive.

Different modal verbs may be used to relay different functions such as the following:

 Possibility

We use ‘may’ when we want to say that there is a chance of something happening, but it’s not certain –‘I may go to the party, but if I feel like it.’ Whereas, ‘can’ shows greater possibility as in the sentence-  ‘I can visit you today as the office is shut today.’ ‘Will’ shows a possibility of an action that is stronger than ‘may’ and ‘can’- ‘I will definitely visit you today.’

Likelihood

For those things that we are not sure of, you can use the modal verbs ‘should’ and ‘must’ to show probability without certainty as in, ‘You must be so scared at the thought of the interview.’ ‘My parents should be home by now.’

Ability

‘Can’ is also used to show the quality of the subject being able to do some activity – ‘I can play the guitar.’

Duty/Obligation

Both ‘must’ and ‘should’ show a duty or an obligation – ‘You must obey your elders.’ ‘Should’ usually also refers to a good deed to be done or a good habit to be followed.

Asking permission

For seeking permissions usually we use ‘may’ , ‘can’ and ‘could’. Within this then may is considered polite as also could. ‘May I step out for  a bit?’ or ‘Could I join in the same game?’

Making a request

If a request has to be placed then using ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘can ‘ or ‘could’ at the beginning of the question will help. ‘Would you please pass me the salt?’

Suggestion/advice

The modal to use to make a suggestion or give an advice is ‘should’. ‘You should definitely try the pasta.’ Or ‘ You shouldn’t go out in the dark.’

Command

On the other hand, if you want to command someone, use the modal verbs ‘must’, ‘have to’, or ‘need to.’ ‘You have to be here at 10 a.m. sharp.’

Obligation or necessity

To show if an action is necessary use ‘must’, ‘have to’, or ‘need to’ and their negative forms to convey that the action is not necessary. We have to make the necessary announcements for the audience before the chief guest arrives. ‘You don’t need to bring a notebook if you don’t want to.’

 As you can see, the situation and the intent of the message will help you chose the right modal verb- no model answer there! 

 Swati Rai is a CELTA certified communication skills trainer. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/raiswatirai )