Category: Modal Auxiliaries

Should indicates obligation and probability. Example: You should come home early. You should not smoke at all. I should visit my parents more often. There should be an extra key for the lock in the drawer. (probability) He should have reached by now. (probability) I should have done that. (obligation in the past) Ought to and had better sometimes…

Must indicates necessity. Example: I must leave now. He must study hard. Alex must go home by 6.00 pm. Have to has the similar meaning to must but implies less urgency.   Example: I have to leave now. He has to study hard. Alex has to go by 6.00 pm. I had to leave then. (past) He had to…

These modals express possibility and ability. Can indicates ability. Could indicates ability with an option. Example: I can do it. (The subject ‘I’ is sure about his/her ability) I could do it. (The subject ‘I’ is not sure about his/her ability) They cannot do it. (present) They could not do it. (past) Can & could also indicate possibility. Example: The temperature…

Will indicates a ‘willingness’ to do something in the future. The negative form of will – will not (won’t) indicates an ‘unwillingness’ (refusal, reluctance) to do something. Example: I will give you another opportunity. I will play tomorrow. They will arrive at 10 AM. She won’t come today. Would indicates general or repeated willingness in the past. It also indicates preference in the present.  …

Modal verbs are a kind of auxiliary verb. They facilitate the main verb for suggesting potential, expectation, permission, ability, possibility, and obligation. When used with the main verb, modal verbs do not end with –s for the third-person singular.  Modal auxiliary verbs never change form, but they have a different form for past tense. The modal auxiliaries…