Transcript modal verbs - C1

modal verbs
don’t have to and must
• Don't have to refers to an absence of
obligation.
You don't have to work tomorrow.
• Must not refers to an obligation not to do
something.
You must not leave the room before the
end of the test.
should and ought to
• Expectation
This film should be really good.
• Recommendation
I think you should talk it over with your
parents.
Guests should vacate their rooms by midday.
• Criticism of an action
You shouldn’t eat so much late at night.
should
• Uncertainty
Should I leave these papers on your desk?
• Should + verbs of thinking to make an opinion
less direct.
I should think that model would sell very well.
should
• Should + be and adjectives describing chance
(odd, strange, funny, What a coincidence…)
It’s strange that you should be staying in the
same hotel!
• After in case to indicate unlikelihood.
I’m taking an umbrella in case it should rain.
could
• possibility or uncertainty
This could be the house.
• with comparative adjectives to express
possibility or impossibility.
The situation couldn’t be worse.
Things could certainly be better.
• suggestions
We could go to that new restaurant in town.
could
• unwillingness
I couldn’t possibly leave my child at home on
her own.
• with be to make criticisms
You can be really annoying, you know!
• with be to refer to capability
must and can’t
• meaning bound to
This must be our stop.
She can’t be mother tongue; she has an
accent.
may and might
• may can mean although
She may be the boss, but that’s no excuse for
shouting like that.
• to describe the only thing left to do; the
speaker is unenthusiastic about it.
It seems no one else dis going to come to the
lesson so you may/might as well go home.
may and might
• express possibility or uncertainty. may is more
formal
The peace conference may find a solution to
the impasse.
• idiom: Try as I may (pres.) Try as I might (past)
Try as I might I could not pass the driving test.
(I tried hard but couldn’t pass it.)
shall
• something is certain to happen, or you want it
to happen
I shall definitely give up smoking this year.
The home team shall surely win!
• formal rules and regulations
No player shall pick up or move any pieces
before it’s his turn.
will
• assumptions
The phone’s ringing. It’ll be for me.
• refusal, insistence, a promise or a threat
I won’t drive you to the disco.
Oh yes you will!
I’ll tell mom, I swear!
would
• unstated conditional
Nobody would agree with that idea (if we
asked everybody).
Life wouldn’t be worth living without you (if
you weren’t here).
Sue wouldn’t do that, surely! (if you suspect
her of it)
need
• as a normal verb
Do you need to make some photocopies?
• as a modal in questions and negatives
Need you make so much noise?
You needn’t come if you don’t want to.