Teaching Modality
INTRODUCTION
ARGUMENT
GLOSSARY
PART I
CHAPTER I – MORPHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
I.1. Parts of Speech
I.2. The English Verb
Formal Classification
Regular and Irregular verbs
Simple and Combined forms
One-word and Multi-word verbs
Functional Classification
Full verbs and Auxiliary verbs
Finite verbs, Non-finite verbs and Special Finites
Sub-classification of English Verbs
Main verbs
Transitive verbs
Intransitive verbs
Link verbs
Structural verbs
Modal verbs
CHAPTER II – MODALITY
II.1. Modality – Definition and General aspects
Mood and Modality
Indicative Mood
Imperative Mood
Conditional Mood
Subjunctive Mood
Types of modality
II.2. Modality through Modal verbs
General Characteristics
Morphological Characteristics
Syntactic Characteristics
Semantic Characteristics
Modal values
Ability
Probability
Necessity
Permission
Request
Miscellaneous Values
PART II
CHAPTER III – TEACHING MODALITY
III.1. Teaching Grammar
The Importance of Grammar in the Study of a Foreign Language
Traditional to Modern Approaches in Teaching English
Teaching Young Learners and Teenagers
Teacher’s Roles
Classroom Principles
III.2. Ways of Teaching Modality
Teaching Modality Activities
Modality in Teaching Persuasive Writing
Grammar practice activities
Role – play
Describing pictures
Games and songs
Projects
Paraphrasing
Cloze/ Fill-in Exercises
Multiple Choice Exercises
Testing Modality
The importance of Evaluation
Grammar Testing Activities
III.3. Lesson Planning
The Importance of Planning
Planning Grammar Lessons
Grammar Lesson Plans
PART III
CHAPTER IV – THE RESEARCH
The Survey
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX
INTRODUCTION
ARGUMENT
eaching English is a very challenging and, at the same time, pleasant process. I think that teaching a foreign language comprises the means by which teachers try to make their students express their thoughts, ideas, wishes, requests, i.e. to help them communicate in a different language than the native one.
A foreign language is a system that must be understood in order to be properly used. It is like a web made up of words, connected to each other through structures. How could we communicate if we simply used words, as they are given in the dictionary, having no connection or some clear strategies to convey meaning to the utterance. That is what grammar makes, and this is one of the reasons why we need to teach grammar, even if it is sometimes difficult.
A native speaker’s knowledge of grammar is subconscious, as Noam Chomsky says, a native speaker has a set of grammar rules in his brain which he can use to make sentences with. Although for the learners of English as a foreign language, grammar is not something pleasant, they should have a grasp of major grammatical concepts that are essential for any language user.
I consider that a teacher must find the way to stir students’ wish to learn English, a language that has now acquired the title of the world’s leading “global language” (Crystal 2003:1) because it is used for business, science, politics or any other type of relationships. Teachers should permanently improve their practice in order to create a balanced approach to instruction that suits their particular context and students’ needs.
This paper is an attempt of presenting a modern, communicative approach to the teaching of grammar in general, and of the modal verbs as an important part of the English verb, in particular. The verb is one of the most important parts of speech and it represents, in my opinion, the carrier of the most complex features in a sentence. Not only does it have lexical meaning, but it also indicates the time of an action (present, past or future), the duration, the completeness or incompleteness of an action, it can also show the emotional attitude of the speaker.
The expression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker including possibility, probability, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire, and contingency is called modality. Personally, I found this topic interesting to study and analyze from the teacher’s perspective, since modality is taught to all levels of language learners, from young learners to advanced students.
In order to better prepare students for the global world, and to show them that their own English is valued, teachers should implement a balanced approach that incorporates the teaching and learning context as well as the learners’ values and needs. It also helps to prepare learners for future interactions with others speakers of English and for the real world interactions.
Consequently, the objective of this paper is to provide a description of the ways to express modality, and to underline the importance of teaching grammar in a communicative way during the process of teaching English as a foreign language. As always, the priority in teaching should be getting students to learn to understand and use the language itself.
GLOSSARY
Any language is governed by some rules which give meaning to the words used in sentences. We can study the structure of language in a variety of ways. For example, we can study classes of words as parts of speech, meanings of words, with or without considering changes of meaning, study called semantics. The way words are organized in relation to each other and in larger constructions is described by syntax, and the way words are formed from smaller meaningful units is analyzed by morphology. The sounds of words, the perception, the pronunciation or articulation, and how they form patterns of knowledge in the speaker's mind are studied through phonetics and phonology, and orthography deals with the way in which standardized written forms represent words.
All these areas which describe the way a language functions are generally perceived as the “study of language” called “grammar”. The term grammar is defined and used in several different ways.
First of all, if we look for a definition of the term we’ll find out that:
According to The Oxford Dictionary, grammar is: “the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics”. (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com)
Grammar is “the set of structural rules governing the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics, and pragmatics.” (http://en.wikipedia.org)
It is “the systematic study and description of a language” and it can also be defined as “a set of rules and examples dealing with the syntax and word structures (morphology) of a language”. (http://grammar.about.com)
Having studied the structure of the English language, I have come to the conclusion that the verb is the key element in communication, and its scientific characteristics are the most complex.
According to the traditional definition, the verb is a type of word or phrase, the part of speech that shows an action, process or a state. When defining a verb we have to take into account not only the lexical meaning but also the functioning pattern in which it appears. Charles Carpenter Fries defines the verb according to the positions in which it can stand. He says that “all words” that could occupy the same “set of positions” in the patterns of English single free utterances must belong to the same part of speech. (Carpenter, 1971: 71 – 86)
Besides these two terms: grammar and verb, which I will use very often in this paper, I consider there are a few other terms that must be defined and explained from the very beginning:
Aspect – a category of the verb which comprises various morphological forms of the verb which imply the duration, the completeness, the time orientation of an action. The English verb can be marked for two different aspects: the progressive/ continuous aspect and the perfective aspect. (e.g. I am working …, I have worked …)
Auxiliary verb – a function word which is part of grammatical constructions but carry little meaning of its own. For instance, be followed by an –ing participle marks the progressive aspect, but followed by a past participle marks the passive voice. Should/ would help to the formation of the conditional and subjunctive mood, but carry also modal value.
Full verb/ main verb – the head of a verb phrase, always a lexical verb, with a meaning of its own.
Modal verb – an auxiliary finite verb which expresses modality – ability, permission, obligation, possibility, probability (e.g. can, may/might, shall/should, must, will/would, ought to). They are usually followed by a short infinitive and there can only be one modal auxiliary in a verb phrase, although they can combine with auxiliary equivalents.
Mood – a category of the verb phrase which indicates the way in which the speaker considers the action (real, possible, desirable). There are four moods: indicative, imperative, conditional, subjunctive.
Non-finite verb – a verb which is not marked for tense or modality. The non-finite verb forms are the infinitive, the present/ -ing participle and the past/ -ed participle. (e.g. (to) play, playing, played, (to) drink, drinking, drunk, etc.) Non-finite forms can combine with each other in non-finite verb phrases (e.g. having played, having been written, being brought, etc.). Non-finite forms can also combine with finite forms in finite verb phrases, in which case the finite verb comes first (e.g. has done, has been done, has been doing, had played, had been playing, will have worked, etc.).
Special finite – a set of auxiliary and full verbs which have negative forms ending in –n’t and are not used with (to) do in negative and interrogative sentences. (e.g. am, is, are, was, were, have, has, had, do, does, did, will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, etc.)
Tense – a category of the verb phrase. The tense locates the correspondence between the form of the verb and the concept of time. Only finite verbs can show tense. English has only two morphological tenses, i.e. tenses which have special forms rather than combinations of forms: present (e.g. work/ works, play/ plays, etc.) and past (e.g. worked, played, went, etc.). Both present and past can combine with the progressive and the perfective aspect (e.g. I am working …, He has worked …, They have been playing …).
Verb phrase – a structure in which the main word or the head-word is a verb, preceded by one or more auxiliaries. The syntactic and semantic features that may be carried by a verb phrase are: tense, modality, aspect and voice.
Voice – a category of the verb which marks the relation between the subject and the object of the action. Sentences like: “He brought me a nice present” are in the Active voice and they can be turned into the Passive voice: “I was brought a nice present”.
PART I
“What I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence.”
Joan Didion – American essayist and novelist
CHAPTER I
MORPHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
I.1. Parts of Speech
I.2. The English Verb
Formal Classification
Regular and irregular verbs
Simple and combined forms
One-word and multi-word verbs
Functional Classification
Full verbs and auxiliary verbs
Finite verbs, non-finite verbs and special finites
Sub-classification of English Verbs
Main verbs
Structural verbs
Modal verbs
I will approach the study of the Modal verbs as an element of the verb phrase, which belongs to the morphological system, along with other elements of the language. All these can be analyzed and classified in different categories or basic types that are called “parts of speech”. Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the morphological tenses, i.e. tenses which have special forms rather than combinations of forms: present (e.g. work/ works, play/ plays, etc.) and past (e.g. worked, played, went, etc.). Both present and past can combine with the progressive and the perfective aspect (e.g. I am working …, He has worked …, They have been playing …).
Verb phrase – a structure in which the main word or the head-word is a verb, preceded by one or more auxiliaries. The syntactic and semantic features that may be carried by a verb phrase are: tense, modality, aspect and voice.
Voice – a category of the verb which marks the relation between the subject and the object of the action. Sentences like: “He brought me a nice present” are in the Active voice and they can be turned into the Passive voice: “I was brought a nice present”.
PART I
“What I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence.”
Joan Didion – American essayist and novelist
CHAPTER I
MORPHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
I.1. Parts of Speech
I.2. The English Verb
Formal Classification
Regular and irregular verbs
Simple and combined forms
One-word and multi-word verbs
Functional Classification
Full verbs and auxiliary verbs
Finite verbs, non-finite verbs and special finites
Sub-classification of English Verbs
Main verbs
Structural verbs
Modal verbs
I will approach the study of the Modal verbs as an element of the verb phrase, which belongs to the morphological system, along with other elements of the language. All these can be analyzed and classified in different categories or basic types that are called “parts of speech”. Traditional grammar classifies words based on eight parts of speech: the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the verb, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection.
Some grammarians include the article among the parts of speech, others do not. There have been arguments over the question of the article as a word or as a grammatical morpheme. I agree to the view presented by Horia Hulban in his book Syntheses in English Morphology that “the article is an analytic form of the noun, a morpheme with an established grammatical function”. (Hulban, 2002: 104)
Each part of speech explains not what the word actually is, but how the word is used. In fact, the same word can be a noun in one sentence and a verb or adjective in the next. It is important to be able to recognize and identify the different types of words in English, so that we can use the right word form in the right place.
For instance, in the sentence – I love reading books. – the word “books” is a countable plural noun, whereas in the sentence – He usually books a table in a quiet restaurant when he wants to eat out. – the word “books” is a verb used in the Present Simple Tense because it expresses an action which happens regularly.
Here is a short presentation of the eight parts of speech:
The NOUN is the part of speech which names persons, places, things, or ideas. (e.g. mother, Maria, city, home, Canada, house, ring, light, democracy, courage, obedience, etc.)
According to different criteria, nouns can be classified into concrete or abstract (e.g. house – love, happiness), proper or common (e.g. country, language, teacher – England, German, Mother Theresa, Sam), countable, uncountable or collective (e.g. book – sugar – army), etc.
The PRONOUN is said to take the place of a noun, it is used instead of a noun, to avoid repetition. In general, pronouns can be personal (e.g. I, you, he, etc.), possessive pronouns (e.g. mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, etc.), indefinite (e.g. anybody, anyone, one, etc.), interrogative (e.g. who, whom, what, which, etc.), and demonstrative (e.g. this, that, these, and those).
The ADJECTIVE modifies or describes a noun. It shows a characteristic of the noun (e.g. big, yellow, thin, amazing, beautiful, quick, etc.) Possessive pronouns can be used as adjectives. (e.g. That is his book.)
The VERB is a word which expresses an action, or a state. It makes a statement, or shows a link between word relationships. Verbs can be used in different ways: as verbs of full predication (e.g. Jim hit the ball.), auxiliary or linking verbs (e.g. He has just finished his project. That boy is my friend.) A detailed presentation and the classifications of the English verb will be given in the next section (I.2).
The ADVERBS modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They can show the place (e.g. here, there, away, etc.), the time (e.g. now, soon, yesterday, etc.), the manner (e.g. easily, quietly, slowly, etc.), the degree (e.g. very, extremely, really, etc.) or the frequency of an action (e.g. always, never, often, seldom, etc.)
The PREPOSITIONS show relationships between nouns or pronouns and other words in a sentence. Prepositional phrases generally contain the preposition and an object of the preposition. The preposition usually comes before a noun, a pronoun or a noun phrase. The objects of the preposition are usually nouns (e.g. in summer, to bed, about the story, to the cinema, for me, between the two buildings, etc.).
The CONJUNCTIONS are words that join words or groups of words. There are two main types of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions (e.g. and, or, but, for, etc.) and subordinating conjunctions (e.g. because, if, whether, etc.).
Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases, and clauses of equal value, called independent clauses (e.g. Mother is cooking in the kitchen and I am watching TV.). Subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses, that is clauses which dependent on the rest of the sentence for its meaning. (Although I am busy, I will help him with the homework.)
The INTERJECTIONS are exclamatory words that express strong emotions or surprise. Interjections have no other grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence. Interjections may be followed by either commas or exclamation points. (e.g. Ouch! That hurt!/ Oh, what a wonderful movie!/ Great! What a terrific idea!/ Aha! I've found your secret!)
Here is a very suggestive overview of the parts of speech (www.printeres.com ):
Among the parts of speech, the verb is, in my opinion, the most important and complex in any language, not only in English. An appropriate understanding of the verb with its correct grammatical construction and categories offers not only the ability to correctly establish relational aspects of events and situations, but also the potential of significantly increasing effective communication.
I will focus more in this paper on a particular type of verbs, which convey different attitudes to the utterance – Modal Verbs, but I consider that, for a better understanding of the verbal background, a general presentation of the English verb is important.
According to the traditional definition, THE VERB is the part of speech that shows an action, process or state. A verb is “a word (e.g. run, etc.) or a phrase (e.g. run out of, etc.) which expresses the existence of a state (e.g. love, seem, etc.) or the doing of an action (e.g. take, play, etc.).” (Alexander, 1999: 159) It is the word that plays the most important part in a sentence. The term “action” embraces not only the “doing of an action”, but also “having an action done to a person or thing”. It must not exclude the absence of action, the idea of being in a state of rest.
Verbs have certain features that are not shared by other parts of speech. The most important distinctive feature is the ability of its units to relate the content of a sentence to its communicational frame by expressing time relations in the tense forms. They have forms that indicate the time of an action – present, past or future – they can indicate the duration, completeness or incompleteness of an action, they can show whether a person or thing is doing or receiving an action and can express, in certain cases, the emotional attitude of the speaker towards the action. However, they do not indicate gender, comparison or case.
The verb is sometimes accompanied by other words or group of words – all these structures in which the main word or the head-word is a verb and function as the predicate of the sentence make up the verb phrase. Thus, it is defined by grammarians as the syntactic unit composed of at least one verb and its dependents — objects, complements and other modifiers.
For example, in the sentence: A fat man put the jewels quickly in the box – the group of words “put the jewels quickly in the box” is a verb phrase; it consists of the verb put and its dependents. The noun phrase to the left of the verb phrase is the subject: “a fat man” and the verb phrase functions as predicate.
There are many distinctions that can be made in the English verb system, but I will refer to the following classifications:
the formal classification, according to which there are:
regular – irregular verbs;
simple – combined forms;
one-word – multi-word verbs.
the functional classification, which can classify verbs as:
full verbs – auxiliary verbs;
finites – non-finites – special finites.
Referring to the syntactic behavior and verb valence, the verbs can be sub-classified into:
main verbs;
structural verbs;
modal verbs.
Formal classification
Regular and Irregular Verbs
English verbs are either regular or irregular, distinguished by the formation of the past tense and past participle.
Regular verbs
Most English verbs are regular, that is they have one common form – (V-ø). If we now the base form of the regular verbs, we can predict their other three morphological forms (V-s/ V-ing/ V-ed) by rule.
The base form, without any affix is used for infinitives and present tense simple (e.g. work, play, help, etc), excluding the third person singular, to which we add the suffix –(e)s: works, plays, helps, etc.
The suffix –ing is used for the progressive aspect and present participles (e.g. working, playing, helping, etc.) and the suffix –ed is used for simple past tense and for past participles, all persons, in perfect and passive constructions (e.g. worked, played, helped, etc.).
Irregular verbs
Regular and irregular lexical verbs are identical in their morphology for –(e)s and –ing forms. The past tense and the past participle of irregular verbs vary and must be learnt. Irregular verbs may have three, four or a maximum of five inflectional forms (except to be: be, am, is, are, was, were, been, being and the special finites).
Three forms: cut, cuts, cutting; put, puts, putting; hurt, hurts, hurting, etc.
Four forms: beat, beaten, beats, beating; find, found, fins, finding; come, came, comes, coming, etc.
Five forms: give, gave, given, gives, giving; drink, drank, drunk, drinks, drinking.
Simple and Combined forms
Simple forms
A grammatical verb form consisting of a lexical or invariant component and one variant component is called a simple form (e.g. called – call is the lexical, invariant component + ed, the grammatical, variant component). It consists of one word only (e.g. work, works, worked, working; write, writes, wrote, written, writing, etc.).
Combined forms
A grammatical verb form which consists of more than one simple form is called a combined form (e.g. had called – had is a simple form – the auxiliary verb, called is a simple form – call+ed ). In other words, a combined form consists of one, two, three or four auxiliary verbs before one of the three inflectional forms of the principal verb (e.g. has/ had worked, is/ has been considered/ might have been helped).
Combined forms are finite verb forms too, since their first constituents are always finite whatever the number of constituents may be. The finite constituent of a combined form is either a present or past tense form of to be or to have as structural verbs (e.g. is working, has worked, etc.), shall/ will as structural verbs (e.g. will be working) or a present or past tense form of a modal verb (e.g. may work, should be working, etc.).
One-word and multi-word forms
There are in English a number of lexical units functioning as verbs, which consist of two or more separate words. Verbal lexical units will therefore be classified according to whether they are one-word item or two or more word items called multi-word forms.
One-word verbs
One-word or single-word verbs are always written as one word and according to the internal morphological structure they can be classified in:
Simple verbs – one simple verb stem, a morpheme that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts (e.g. work, play, eat, drink, help, etc.);
Derivative verbs – formed of one verbal stem and an affixed word-forming or derivational morpheme (e.g. dislike, rebuild, mislead, simplify, blacken, modernize, etc.);
Compound verbs – consist of two stems, the first of them always being a prefixed adverb or adverbial particle: out, over, under, up (e.g. outdo, overcome, underline, upset, etc.).
According to Douglas Biber, one-word verbs can be classified into seven major semantic domains: activity verbs (bring, carry, give, go, etc.), communication verbs (ask, announce, call, discuss, say, speak, etc.), mental verbs (think, know, want, hear, etc.), causative verbs (allow, cause, force, help, let, etc.), verbs of simple occurrence (change, happen, develop, grow, increase, etc.), verbs of existence or relationship (seem, appear, exist, live, etc.), and aspectual verbs (begin, continue, finish, start, stop, etc.). (Biber, 2000: 361 – 364)
Multi-word verbs
Multi-word verbs consist of two or more stems and in writing always appear as two or more words. The constituents following the head constituent – the verbal base – and the head constituent itself fuse into a new lexical unit with a meaning of its own.
There are four major kinds of combinations:
Prepositional verbs – consist of a verbal stem and a detached preposition (e.g. ask for, deal with, insist on, look for/ at/ after, speak about, etc.);
Phrasal verbs – consist of a verbal stem and a detached adverb or adverbial particle (e.g. come back, pick up, take off, break down, give away, get out, etc.);
Phrasal-Prepositional verbs – formed of a verbal stem, an adverbial particle and a preposition (e.g. put up with, look down on, do away with, run out of, etc.);
Other multi-word verb constructions – consist of various combinations:
Verb + noun phrase + preposition (e.g. take a look at)
Verb + prepositional phrase (e.g. take into account)
Verb + verb (e.g. make do)
Functional Classification
Full verbs and Auxiliary verbs
Full verbs
A full verb has a meaning of its own and can form the predicate by itself.
e.g. They help their friends very much.
I often go shopping in the evening.
They played tennis last weekend.
Auxiliary verbs
From the morphological point of view, auxiliary verbs are words by means of which certain forms of main verbs are constructed. From the semantic point of view, they have no value, they are only helping words. In other words, an auxiliary verb has no independent meaning of its own, but helps to construct the combined forms of the English verb.
Auxiliaries serve as:
Tense formers – Laszlo Budai calls them “Temporals” (Budai, 2002: 13):
(To) be: am, is, are, was, were, been, being help to the formation of:
the Progressive Aspect (e.g. I am working./ He has been playing …)
the Passive constructions (e.g. I was asked …/ The game is played …)
To) have: have, has, had, having help to the formation of:
the Present Perfect Tenses (e.g. I have worked …/ He has been playing…/)
the Past Perfect Tenses (e.g. I had worked …/ He had been playing …)
the Future Perfect Tenses (e.g. I will have worked …/ He will have been working …)
the Perfect Infinitive (e.g. to have worked, to have been playing, etc.)
the Perfect Participle and Gerund (e.g. having worked, having been helped, etc.)
(To) do: do, does, did help to the formation of the interrogative, negative and mixed sentences, whenever they contain no other auxiliary or Modal verb.
e.g. Does he work here?
He doesn’t play football.
Doesn’t he help you?
Shall/ will – help to the formation of:
the Future Tenses (e.g. I shall work …/ You will be playing …/ He will have finished )
Should/ would – help to the formation of the Future-in-the-past.
e.g. He promised he would arrive in two days.
Mood formers – according to Laszlo Budai “Modals” (Budai, 2002: 13):
Should/ would – help to the formation of:
the Conditional Mood (e.g. I should work if …/ He would work if …/ You would have finished …)
the Subjunctive Mood (e.g. It’s important that you should learn this rule.)
May/ might – occur in Final Clauses.
e.g. I asked him to repeat the exercise, so that he might get used to it.
(To) let – helps to the formation of the Imperative Mood.
e.g. Let’s go shopping!
Let me go!
Some Modal verbs can be used as auxiliaries, conveying modal colouring, expressing subjective attitudes of the speaker.
e.g. I will help you! (expresses future action, but also wish, determination)
He won’t do it! (future action, but also refusal)
Some auxiliary verbs (e.g. be, have, do) can also be used as full verbs.
e.g. I was at home last light./ He had a car accident./ They always do …
Finite verbs, Non-finite verbs and Special Finites
Finite verbs
A finite verb is a verb that is complete in itself and can be used alone as the verb phrase in a sentence, functioning as a predicate. The word “finite” means “limited”, that is, a finite verb is limited or bound to its subject. There is a person and number concord between the subject of a clause and the finite verb phrase, particularly clear with the Present Tense of (to) be. (e.g. I am at home./ He is at school.)
I agree with Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk regarding the definition of a finite verb phrase as one in which “the first or only word is a finite verb, the rest of the verb phrase, if any, consisting of non-finite verbs”. (Greenbaum and Quirk, 1993: 41)
e.g. He is a teacher.
She worked as a travel agent.
I have won the competition. (have – finite verb + won – non-finite verb)
Non-finite verbs
The verb forms that cannot form the predicate by themselves are non-finites or verbals. They rarely stand alone and have no obvious subject or tense. Hence a non-finite verb phrase is a phrase in which the first or only word (except the infinitive marker “to”) is a non-finite verb.
The non-finites are:
the Infinitives (e.g. (to) work, (to) play, to have worked, to be asked, to have been helped, etc. )
the Participles and Gerunds (e.g. working, playing, done, being asked, having called, having been helped, etc.)
Non-finites can be used as any part of a sentence – subject, object, complement, adverbial, functioning as nouns, adjectives or modifiers.
e.g. Reading is a nice hobby. (nominal)
The commanding officer ordered the attack. (adjectival)
Damned cold out night … (modifier)
Non-finites can be also used for a variety of meanings in Non-finite Clauses.
e.g. She went back home to finish her work. (Reduced Purpose Adverbial)
She heard a loud scream coming from outside. (Reduced Relative Clause)
Certain verb forms function sometimes as Finites and sometimes as Non-finites.
Special (Anomalous) Finites
There are in English a set of 24 finite verb forms – auxiliaries or full verbs which require separate treatment in connection with their use in various types of sentences. They are: am, is, are, was, were, have, has, had, do, does, did, used (to), will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, must, ought (to), need, dare.
They are called Special or Anomalous Finites because their formal features, especially in negative and interrogative sentences are different of those of all other forms in the same types of sentences. (i.e. They have negative forms ending in –n’t and are not used with (to) do.)
The Special Finites are used, according to L. Budai (Budai, 2002: 14 -15):
to form the emphatic affirmative (e.g. He does work a lot./ We did try hard.);
to form the negative (e.g. He doesn’t work every day./ Wouldn’t you like to come with us?);
to form the interrogative (e.g. Have you finished your work?/ Why didn’t you help him?);
to form short answers (e.g. Yes, we are./ No, we weren’t.);
to form question-tags (e.g. You know what I mean, don’t you?/ He isn’t at home, is he?/ I am right, aren’t I?);
to avoid repetition (e.g. He likes London, just the way his mother does.);
in several minor patterns:
so/ nor/ neither + special finite + subject (e.g. I like sweets. – So does my sister./ I wasn’t at school yesterday. Nor was John.)
so + subject + special finite (e.g. You met him last week. – So I did.)
but + subject + special finite (+-n’t) (e.g. Why did you hit this boy? – But I didn’t!)
to express concepts such as:
ability (e.g. I can speak Chinese.)
possibility (e.g. They might be at home.)
permission (e.g. May I talk to you?)
obligation (e.g. We must read this book.)
interdiction (e.g. You mustn’t use your dictionary in the exam.)
In ordinary contexts, some of the finites combine with the personal pronoun to give the contracted forms (e.g. I’m, you’re, she’ll, etc.). They have strong forms and some of them have weak forms in pronunciation.
Certain verb forms act sometimes as Special Finites and sometimes as Full verbs.
VERBS
FULL VERBS AUXILIARY VERBS
Sub-classification of English verbs
Taking syntactic behaviour and verb valence as the major criteria for classifying English verbs, there are: main verbs, structural verbs and modal verbs.
Main verbs
Main verbs are either carriers of verb valence or verbalizing patterns of valence carrying predicatives, in the sense that they link semantic, syntactical patterns of non-verbal character (phrases).
According to their syntactic and semantic features, main verbs can be sub-divided into: Transitive verbs, Intransitive verbs and Link verbs.
Transitive verbs
Transitive or transitively used verbs are regarded as a syntactically and semantically defined subclass of English verbs. They are characterized by the fact that they relate a preceding noun phrase as subject to a following noun phrase as object and to a constituent functioning as complement. In other words, they are verbs which require both a subject and one or more objects (e.g. accomplish, add, attack, build, discover, find, hate, make, say, take, etc.).
Transitive verbs can be classified into: monotransitive, complex transitive and ditransitive.
Monotransitive verbs represent the largest category, which includes the verbs followed by an obligatory noun phrase functioning as direct object. (e.g. admire, buy, enjoy, create, prefer, see, use, take, get, lose, want, receive, etc.)
e.g. He bought a new house. (a new house – direct object)
The typical direct object of a transitive verb becomes the subject of the corresponding passive. e.g. She lost her keys. (Active Voice)
Her key was lost. (Passive Voice)
Many phrasal verbs are transitive. The particle may be placed before or after the direct object unless this is a pronoun.
e.g. I put on my jacket. – I put my jacket on.
Prepositional and phrasal-prepositional verbs are by definition transitive, their direct object being a prepositional object which always follows its preposition in the Active Voice.
Complex transitive verbs are followed by an object and a complement. The complement refers back to the object and may be either nominal or adjectival.
e.g. I called him a damned fool. (nominal)
His arguments made the reason perfectly clear. (adjectival)
Some of these verbs are: suppose, pronounce, believe, imagine, consider, find, call, etc.
Ditransitive verbs have two objects – normally a noun phrase as indirect object, which is animate and follows the verb, and a noun phrase as direct object which follows the indirect object.
e.g. He gave me a nice present.
(me – indirect object + a nice present – direct object)
This pattern includes “that”- Clauses and “wh-” Clauses as direct object.
e.g. She also told him that she was a happy girl.
He asked me what I was doing.
Intransitive verbs
Intransitive or intransitively used verbs are regarded as a syntactically and semantically defined subclass of English verbs. Syntactically, they are characterized by the fact that they never occur with a noun phrase object, and the sentences containing them cannot be passivized, i.e. they don’t pass the “Passivisation test” – can’t be converted from Active into Passive Voice.
Transitive verbs can be passivized, whereas Intransitive and Link Verbs cannot.
Intransitive verbs relate a noun phrase functioning as subject to a constituent functioning as complement (e.g. arrive, appear, disappear, happen, come, rain, work, go, wait, etc.). They normally have no objects. The only object an intransitive verb can have is a cognate object, i.e. an object already implied more or less in the verb itself.
e.g. He lived a happy life.
She died a sad death.
Some verbs can be used transitively or intransitively (e.g. break, change, ring, stop, etc.).
Link verbs
Link verbs are regarded as a syntactically and semantically defined subclass of English verbs. Syntactically, they are characterized by the fact that they relate a noun phrase subject to a syntactic predicative and to a constituent functioning as complement. The subject complement is usually one or more adjectives or nouns, which refer to the same person or thing as the subject.
e.g. She became a famous doctor. (noun complement)
This soup tastes sweet. (adjectival complement)
All linking verbs can be followed by a subordinate clause.
e.g. It seems to be a matter of life and death.
The lexical meaning of link verbs is mostly vague and general to make them the only carrier of valence, i.e. they have semi-lexical meaning. Therefore, the lexicalized predicative, which always occurs together with a link verb, functions as the main carrier of valence. The lexical material in the predicative is closely tied up with the semi-lexical material of the link verb and, at the same time, verbalized by that link verb.
The link verb then fulfills a double function:
It contributes to the overall meaning of the verbal expression;
It carries the required morphological categories of the verb, and thus makes possible the verbal existence of the complex lexical meaning.
Link verbs can be classified as:
Link verbs of being – The verb (to) be is the most commonly used linking verb. It links only current attributes, but they may be nominal, adjectival or adverbial.
e.g. The woman was a famous actress. (nominal)
She was happy. (adjectival)
I was in the car. (adverbial)
Link verbs of becoming (e.g. become, turn, grow, get, fall, go)
e.g. The days are growing longer and longer.
The soup has turned sour.
It’s getting dark.
Link verbs of remaining (e.g. remain, keep, continue)
e.g. The weather continued to be fine.
We remained quiet.
Link verbs of seeming/ appearing (e.g. appear, look, seem)
e.g. He appears to be very tired.
She looks an honest girl.
Structural Verbs
Structural verbs form a set of grammatical morphemes, part of a complex word form, which function individually or combined as carriers or co-carriers of three of the morphological categories of main verbs: tense, aspect and correlation.
Thus, structural verbs only occur in combined forms either with each other (e.g. He will have finished …), or with the main verb alone (e.g. He has finished …).
In negative declarative sentences, in questions and some other types of sentences, the finite forms of the structurals are called Special Finites because they show some special features.
The set of structural verbs includes the following:
(To) be – its finite forms can combine with -ing participle to express aspect (e.g. He is learning …) and with -ed participle to express passive voice (e.g. I was told that ..).
(To) have – its finite forms combined with the -ed participle of main verbs express anteriority – correlation (e.g. I have met him …).
Shall/ will/ would – combine with short infinitives of the main verbs or with other structurals to express the future and future-in-the-past tenses (e.g. He will be working)
Be going to – combines with the infinitive of main verbs to express future actions (e.g. I’m going to visit him …).
Periphrastic “do” – is used to form syntactic periphrases:
questions (e.g. Did you call him?)
negations (e.g. I don’t want it.)
affirmations (e.g. I do want it.)
Pro-verb “do” – replaces the main verb and following constituents in:
tag-questions (e.g. He knows the truth, doesn’t he?)
short answers (e.g. Yes, I do.)
other clauses with identical verbs (e.g. I answered, but you didn’t.)
Modal Verbs
Concepts like ability, possibility, necessity, obligation, are expressed by the modal verbs: can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, must, need, ought to, used to.
Morphologically, modal verbs have an incomplete predication, they must always be completed by a short infinitive, either expressed or understood (except ought to and used to).
e.g. I should go home./ Can he swim? – Yes, he can. (swim)
As Paidos says, these verbs have some common characteristics. (Paidos, 1992: 107). They are :
defective verbs – they cannot be conjugated in all the moods and tenses:
they don’t have Long Infinitives
they don’t have –ing forms
uninflected – they don’t get –s in the third person singular, Present Tense (e.g. She can speak …).
special/ anomalous finites – the negative is formed with the help of the negation “not” (e.g. shouldn’t/ mustn’t, etc.). In the case of “can”, this negation is written together with the modal verb (cannot). The interrogative is formed by inversion (e.g. Could you help…)
A detailed presentation of the Modal Verbs will be given in the next chapter. (see II.2.)
CHAPTER II
MODALITY
II.1. Modality – Definition and General aspects
Mood and Modality
Indicative Mood
Imperative Mood
Conditional Mood
Subjunctive Mood
Types of modality
II.2. Modality through Modal verbs
General characteristics
Morphological Characteristics
Syntactic Characteristics
Semantic Characteristics
Modal values
Ability
Probability
Necessity
Permission
Request
Miscellaneous Values
Along with the evolution and the development of the communicative system of the languages, there has appeared the need of a clear and accurate expression of the human thoughts, including all the details and the circumstances of live, and especially the attitude of the speaker towards the content of communication. These elements are included in the term “modality”.
The word “modality” shares its root with the word “mode” from medieval Latin “modalis”, from Latin “modus” (“mode”), meaning "the way in which something happens or is experienced".
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term “modality” is explained as:
a particular mode in which something exists or is experienced or expressed.
a particular method or procedure (e.g. the modalities of troop withdrawals)
a particular form of sensory perception (e.g. the visual and auditory modalities)
(of a proposition) in which the predicate is affirmed of the subject with some qualification, or which involves the affirmation of possibility, impossibility, necessity, or contingency.
From the 16th century onwards, it was used in logic and philosophy to refer to propositions involving the affirmation of possibility and impossibility, existence and non-existence, contingency and necessity, and this is the meaning that has been taken into grammar.
In other words, “modality is the grammaticalized expression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker including possibility, probability, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire, and contingency”. (www.linguisticsgirl.com)
I agree with Deborah Cameron’s explanation of the term: "[Modality] is what makes the difference between a factual assertion like unicorns never existed, and a more guarded view, such as it seems likely that unicorns could ever have existed – or a bolder claim like the existence of unicorns must always have been a myth. Modality, then, is a resource speakers and writers use when they are staking claims to knowledge: it allows them to formulate different kinds of claims (e.g., assertions, opinions, hypotheses, speculations) and indicate how committed they are to those claims." (Cameron, 2007: 178)
In other words, as a semantic-grammatical category concerned with the status of the proposition that describes the event expressed by an utterance, modality might also be seen as the relativization of the validity of sentence meanings. Modality allows language users to express what is, what would be, what may be, what should be or what must be.
Valentine Hacquard argues in his article entitled Modality that it is the category of meaning used to talk about possibilities and necessities, essential states of affairs beyond the actual. We can talk about what we must do, if we are to obey the law or what we may do to fulfill our desires, what could happen or what would have been in certain conditions. We are able to talk about all these hypothetical states of things by using modal words. (Hacquard, 2009: 3/4)
Although I will present in detail only one aspect of modality – the one expressed through modal verbs (see II.2.), there are plenty of other ways of expressing it. I think it’s worth mentioning a few of them, so here are the most important ones:
Modal verbs – in sentences like: My sister must/should/might/may/could be at school.
Adverbs (e.g. maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably, etc.) in sentences like: Perhaps, she is home.
Nouns (e.g. probability, certainty, possibility, prohibition, etc.) in sentences like: There is a slight possibility that she is at school.
Adjectives (e.g. possible, probable, necessary, etc.) – It is possible that she is home.
Moods (e.g. Imperative, Conditional, Subjunctive) – If the light is on, she is home.
Hidden modality (von Fintel, 2006: 8) – is a pervasive feature of natural language and sometimes it clearly appears in the semantics of an expression without a clear syntactic or morphological exponent. (e.g. When you have computer trouble, Sam is the person to talk to. – this meaning: Sam is the person one ought to talk to.)
If we compare:
1. He’s working. 4. I wish he worked more.
2. He’s probably working. 3. He might work.
we can notice that:
The first sentence doesn’t contain a modal expression, the speaker stating a fact objectively.
The second sentence is not factual; it includes an element of modality by the use of the adverb probably. In this case, the modal element of the sentence is not part of the verb.
The third example is also non-factual, but this time the idea of modality is expressed through the use of the modal verb might.
The fourth sentence contains the idea of modality by the use of the subjunctive mood.
All the sentences are basically about the same thing, but show the speaker or writer taking different approaches towards it – we find out about the speaker's perception or attitude towards an event or action.
Thus, I must conclude that not only modal verbs, but also other modal words and Verbal Moods are concerned, in their different ways, with this distinction between objective statement and speaker’s subjective attitudes.
Mood and Modality
As I have mentioned before, modality can be expressed through a variety of ways. From the four verbal categories named “moods” – Indicative, Imperative, Conditional and Subjunctive – only the Indicative doesn’t usually express modality.
The Indicative Mood usually shows a real, factual action done at a certain time, without the involvement of the speaker’s attitude, unless other modal words are used.
e.g. He is reading a book. (Indicative Mood – Present Continuous)
They went on holiday last week. (Indicative Mood – Past Simple)
In sentences like these, the action is happening at a certain time (now or last week), but we have no clue about the speaker’s attitude.
I consider that, sometimes, the Indicative mood can also express modality when the main verb of a sentence has in itself some kind of modal meaning (e.g. suspect, believe, appear, doubt, seem, suppose, presume, etc.)
e.g. She seems to be guilty. (The speaker’s attitude suggests probability.)
I believe he will succeed. (The speaker’s attitude suggests certainty.)
You are Dr. Johnson’s daughter, I presume. (the speaker’s attitude suggests supposition)
The Imperative Mood – Imperative sentences express directives, such as orders, instructions, requests, invitations, etc. They typically have a verb with no subject and in the infinitive form – except for be – this is the same as the non-3rd person singular present simple. Thus, the negative form is 'Don't' + Verb.
Positive imperatives can also include an auxiliary (do + V/ let + V) and the subject can be included in positive or negative sentences. There may also be a question tag added.
e.g. Be careful!/ Do be careful!
Don’t go there! Don't you tell me what to do!
You stay here!
Let’s go home!
Come here, please!
Be quiet, will you?
The Conditional Mood – express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual. It thus refers to a distinct verb form that expresses a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances. In other words, it implies that something will happen when other conditions are met.
e.g. If I were a bird, I would/ could fly away. (Present Conditional)
If he had brought the money, he would have solved the problem. (Past Conditional)
There are no verb forms inflected to express condition in English. Thus, the conditional is usually marked by the modal auxiliaries might, could, and would followed by a short infinitive, which can be used in the simple form (e.g. would go, could fly, might work, etc. – named Present Conditional), in the progressive form (e.g. would be going, could be flying, etc – named Present Conditional Progressive) or a perfect form (e.g. would have gone, could have flown, might have been working, etc. – named Past Conditional). Frequently, a phrase in the conditional appears closely linked to a phrase in the subjunctive preceded by a subordinate conjunction like if.
The Subjunctive Mood – Subjunctive sentences express either a possible action, or uncertainty, unreality, improbability, hypotheses, wishes, etc. As Jonathan Marks explains in his article “Mood and Modality”, the word “subjunctive” means “placed underneath, subordinated, added at the end”, and derives from a Latin translation from Greek; it was used in classical Greek because in that language the subjunctive mood is used almost exclusively in subordinate clauses, and in English, too, it most often appears in subordinate clauses. (www.onestopenglish.com)
e.g. I suggest that she wait a little longer.
He acts as if he were the president.
The Subjunctive may be either Synthetical or Analytical. The form of the Synthetical Subjunctive is identical with Short Infinitive (Present Subjunctive) or with Past Tense (except for to be) of the Indicative mood (Past Subjunctive).
e.g. God bless you!
I wish I were at the seaside.
It’s time you understood this problem.
The Analytical Subjunctive is formed of a modal auxiliary + Short Infinitive:
e.g. Shall I help you?
They wish we would pay them a visit soon.
Types of Modality
Analyzing the idea of modality at a deeper level, I found it interesting to distinguish different kinds of modal meaning. According to Kai von Fintel – who presents in detail the matters related to modality in his work Modality and Language – there are many types of modality (von Fintel, 2006: 2 – 3):
Epistemic modality (Greek episteme, meaning ‘knowledge’) concerns what is possible or necessary given what is known and what the available evidence is.
Deontic modality (Greek: deon, meaning ‘duty’) concerns what is possible, necessary, permissible, or obligatory, given a body of law or a set of moral principles or the like.
Bouletic modality (sometimes boulomaic modality) concerns what is possible or necessary, given a person’s desires.
Circumstantial modality (sometimes dynamic modality) concerns what is possible or necessary, given a particular set of circumstances.
Teleological modality (Greek telos, meaning ‘goal’) concerns what means are possible or necessary for achieving a particular goal.
Modal expressions can be used to express many or all of these kinds of modal meanings. If we take a few examples, we can see that a modal expression is characterized by flexibility in meaning:
Visitors have to leave
It has to be raining. by six pm.
Epistemic modality. Deontic modality
(after observing people (hospital regulations)
coming inside with wet
umbrellas)
I have to sneeze.
You have to go to bed HAVE TO Circumstantial modality
in ten minutes. (given the current state
Bouletic modality of one’s nose)
(stern father)
To get home in time, you have to take a taxi.
Teleological modality
(given the goal to get home in time)
Some modal expressions are more specialized in what kind of meanings they can carry: might is most comfortable expressing epistemic modality (e.g. It might be raining.) Some modal expressions differ in strength in their deontic use (e.g. You ought to call your mother, but of course you don’t have to.)
Writing about the distinction between modal meanings, Angelika Kratzer argues that rather than treating the multitude of modal meanings as a case of (accidental) polysemy, it should be seen as the outcome of context-dependency. (Kratzer, 1991: 640 – 645)
In other words, modal expressions have in themselves a rather skeletal meaning and it is only in combination with the background context that they take on a particular shade of meaning (such as epistemic or deontic). In the absence of explicit markers, natural language users need to rely on contextual clues and reasoning about each other’s intentions to determine what kind of modal meaning a particular sentence is intended to express in its context of use.
You may not enter! Deontic modality (due to some regulations)
He may not arrive tonight. Epistemic modality
(due to evidence available)
A standard classification separates epistemic modals from all others, subsumed under the label ‘root’ modals (Hacquard, 2009: 5).
Epistemic modals deal with possibilities that follow from the speaker’s knowledge – they are speaker-oriented;
e.g. It must be late.
I should be there now.
Root modals deal with possibilities that follow from the circumstances surrounding the main event and its participants – they are subject oriented.
e.g. You may not use your camera.
Nobody must leave the room.
Jonathan Marks makes a similar type of classification, but names this distinction as: extrinsic and intrinsic modality:
Intrinsic modality refers to our personal assessment of the possibility, likelihood or necessity of situations and events.
I might have left my
coat in the car.
.
Extrinsic modality refers to other people's control and evaluation of situations and events – whether these are permitted, desirable, approved of, etc.
From all the means which express modality, I will present in this section of my paper the one rendered through Modal verbs because I consider it as being the most representative for this subject.
Verb phrases containing a modal auxiliary are different in one important way from those which do not. A verb phrase which doesn’t contain a modal is “about” the subject of the sentence (e.g. John lives in London – we find out something about John). Statements or questions which contain a modal auxiliary are about two people – the subject and the speaker or listener (in questions). For instance, the statement: John may come to London next week is about John, but also about the speaker’s own judgment or opinion. In the case of a question, the listener’s opinion is involved, as well as the person referred to by the sentence (e.g. What could I do? is about me, but it’s also about the listener’s judgment or opinion).
According to Michel Lewis, there are three important characteristics of verb phrases containing a modal auxiliary, characteristics which conclude very well what I have mentioned above:
They are not about facts alone.
They are about the speaker’s or listener’s judgment or opinion at the moment of speaking.
They necessarily involve two people – the subject and the speaker or listener. (Lewis, 2002: 102)
General characteristics
The group of Modal auxiliary verbs includes the following: can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, must, need, ought to, used to and they share a number of specific features:
They occupy the first place in a complex verb phrase;
They do not co-occur;
They are characterized by morphological and syntactic properties, which distinguish them from main verbs;
They share important semantic similarities.
Morphological characteristics
Morphologically, modal verbs have an incomplete predication, thus, as I have mentioned before, they must always be completed by an infinitive. Most of them are followed by short infinitives – have to, be to, ought to are exceptions. They can be used with continuous and perfect forms (e.g. She must be sleeping./ She might have left.) Modals can also be used with the passive forms of verbs (e.g. The interview can be postponed./ A new article should be written.)
All of them are defective in the sense that they cannot be conjugated in all the moods and tenses:
They do not have Infinitive forms, excepting “to have to” (e.g. to can, to may, etc.).
None of them has Participle forms (e.g. canning, maying, musted, etc.). Have, need and dare function both as modal auxiliaries and as main verbs, in which case they add –ing or –ed for the Present or Past Participle, and also the morpheme –s for the third person singular in the Present Simple of the Indicative mood.
They are used in the so-called “Present” forms, but not in the traditional sense because they do not add the morpheme –s for the third person singular (e.g. cans, mays, shoulds, etc.). Actually, each may be paraphrased in the present circumstances, according to the speaker’s judgment that “it is possible, necessary, desirable that …”.
In the same way, some of them have “Past” forms (e.g. could, might, would) commom to all persons, but these forms express past actions only in certain circumstances. For instance, if we consider the sentence: I can’t come today, but I could come tomorrow – could doesn’t express a past action, but forms the Present Conditional.
In interrogative, negative and mixed sentences, modals are not accompanied by an auxiliary, excepting to have to and used to, so they are special finites. (e.g. Could we go out?/ You may not leave./ etc.)
They can be rendered by substitutes or by various constructions in order to express past or future time reference, all being combined verbal forms (e.g. We weren’t allowed to visit all the rooms of the castle./ He will be able to drive in two weeks./ We have been obliged to leave the area./ etc.).
I would conclude with Palmer’s statement: “Modality differs from tense and aspect in that it does not refer directly to any characteristic of the event, but simply to the status of the proposition." (Palmer, 2001: 28)
Syntactic characteristics
From the syntactic point of view, modal verbs are part of compound modal verbal predicates, unlike other auxiliary verbs which form part of simple verbal predicates and unlike link verbs which form part of compound nominal predicates.
e.g. She should learn the poem by heart. (compound modal verbal predicate)
We have won the competition for the first time. (simple verbal predicate)
His sister became a lawyer. (compound nominal predicate.)
Modal verbs can be used as single verbs when the main verb has been already mentioned (e.g. Mum, I want to go to the cinema, may I?), in tag-questions (e.g. You can’t help laughing, can you?) or in short answers (e.g. Yes, I can./ No, you may not.).
Semantic characteristics
Considering the meaning of the modal verbs, it’s obvious that they share semantic similarities. Reading many books which deal with the study of modal verbs, I encountered different opinions:
Palmer, for instance, is of the opinion that “a basic meaning” for each individual modal cannot be determined. He does, however, believe that it is possible to search for a set of closely related meanings. (Palmer, 2001: 35 – 38)
On the other hand, Michael Lewis thinks that “the best approach is to look for a single central meaning while at the same time accepting that this may involve recognizing a number of marginal examples”. He argues that “it is impossible to find a single set of primary semantic characteristics for should which unites all of the following: How should I know?/ Who should come along but Bill!/ Should anyone call, could you tell them I’ll be back about four./ You should see a doctor! ” (Lewis, 2002: 103)
Shepherd suggests that most modals have more than one meaning. He says that, for example, “may is sometimes used to express permission, and sometimes to express possibility. Usually the meaning is clear from the situation or context.” (Shepherd, 1984: 316)
Personally, I believe that the communicative meaning of each modal results from the combination of that modal with a certain verb form, the semantic characteristics of the compound modal expression being influenced by the different contexts of the communication. I agree with Shepherd’s opinion that the context of the communication is a very important factor in determining the meaning of a modal expression, and at the same time I think that modals can be grouped according to some modal values or ideas, such as possibility, necessity, interdiction, etc. each modal carrying different meanings or different degrees of intensity.
For instance, if we consider the following sentences:
I must leave now. You must wear
(I feel it’s necessary for me MUST clean shoes in the gym. to leave because it’s late or I have got (You are obliged by some something else to do) regulations– higher intensity)
.
It must be very late, since it’s dark outside.
(I’m sure it’s late – certainty based on evidence)
We’ll come to the conclusion that the same modal must has three different values – necessity, obligation, certainty – meanings acquired in different communicative contexts.
If we analyze the following sentences, we can see that different modals express similar meaning:
Would you like me to carry that luggage?
Shall I carry that luggage?
Can I carry that luggage?
I’m willing to do it!
Moreover, the same sentence can have two possible meanings according to the way it is spoken, the knowledge people have of the situation or the context of the communication.
You could have told me!
Possibility
Perhaps you did, but I can’t remember. Criticism
Why didn’t you tell me?
You should have told me.
Modals can also affect the level of formality and politeness:
Can I leave early tonight? (informal)
Could I (possibly) leave early tonight? (more politely)
May I leave early tonight? (formal)
I wonder if I might leave early tonight. (formal/ more politely)
Consequently, in the next section I will present Modal verbs according to their values, i.e. according to the idea or the meaning they convey in a particular situation of the communication.
Modal values
With the choice of a pure tense form the speaker expresses the factual elements of a situation, being concerned with the time of the event; by aspect the speaker provides an interpretation of the temporal features of an action, being concerned with the nature of the event. Modality is concerned with the status of the proposition that describes the event. It allows the speaker to express an attitude, a value to the non-factual and non-temporal elements of the situation.
The idea of ability can be expressed by CAN or COULD and their substitute – to be able to – when it comes about past or future reference, but also as an alternative form for the present reference. We can distinguish many types of ability: mental ability or skill, physical ability, power, freedom to act. Used in the negative form, CANNOT/ CAN’T or COULDN’T express lack of ability
Ability in the present time
CAN expresses:
mental ability or skill, talent or competence/ lack of mental ability:
e.g. She can paint./ He can type really fast./ They can speak several foreign languages./ Only ten men in the world can do it./ He can be very boring./ I can help you understand./ She can make it sound so simple./ He can break security systems./ He can’t play the piano./ She can’t speak English fluently.
physical ability/ lack of physical ability:
e.g. Can you move this piece of furniture?/ I can row for one hour./ He can’t lift this bag, it’s too heavy./ We can’t hear anything.
power/ lack of power:
e.g. He can ruin your career./ The party can assume its political role./ He cannot rule if he hasn’t got enough support.
freedom to act or ability depending on circumstances/ lack of freedom:
e.g. I can change my car anytime./ You can go to Paris by coach or by plane./ I can’t help you whenever you need./ I’ll stop playing the piano, so that you can learn. (Adverbial Clause of Purpose)
COULD is used:
in the Reported Speech, to express all the ideas mentioned above for can.
e.g. He told me that he could do it./ He said they couldn’t speak English fluently./ He wondered if you could move those pieces of furniture.
in the Conditional Mood – to express ability/ skill depending on circumstances in independent sentences or in conditional sentences of the second type:
e.g. He could fix the engine himself./ Could you skin a deer?/ I could do it if you gave me a helping hand./ He would buy it if he could.
Ability in the past time
COULD expresses ability in the past time only when the context or the situation shows that the reference is to past time. It usually implies a permanent ability in the past. It shows:
mental ability, skill/ lack of mental ability:
e.g. He could read when he was five./ Could you speak English six years ago?
physical ability/ lack of physical ability:
e.g. It was so heavy that he couldn’t lift it./ He couldn’t dance until he took lessons./ She could run very fast when she was younger./ We could see them through the window while they were playing.
It must be mentioned here that in order to express a single act, not permanent ability, the substitutes was/ were able to or managed to are used. The use of manage suggests difficulty, need for effort.
e.g. He was able to swim across the river./ We finished our work early, so we managed to catch the train.
the Conditional Mood – to express ability in the past depending on circumstances in independent sentences or conditional sentences of the third type:
e.g. I could have read the whole book./ We could have done it if we had more time./ I could have played the piano well, but I didn’t practice enough.
Ability in the future time
CAN shows future ability, expressing the ideas mentioned above – mental/ physical ability, power, freedom to act. Used in the negative form, it expresses lack of ability.
e.g. I can help you tomorrow, if you need it./ He can change the world.
We can’t come to the party tonight./ They can’t do it next week.
COULD – used in the Reported Speech or in the Conditional Mood can express future ability or lack of ability:
e.g. He said he could help me tomorrow./ She asked me if I could call her the following day./ I could come back tonight if you don’t have time now./ I couldn’t finish unless you help me.
To be able (capable) to – is the substitute of CAN for any time reference – present, past or future, having an appropriate form for almost all tenses.
e.g. I am able to swim. (Present Tense Simple)
I have been able to learn the poem. (Present Perfect Tense)
He was able to fix the computer when it broke down. (Past Tense Simple)
He said he had been able to arrive on time the day before. (Past Perfect)
She will be able to solve your problem tomorrow. (Future Tense)
They will have been able to finish by the end of the week. (Future Perfect)
If I were able to help you, I’d do it. (Subjunctive Mood)
Would you be able to run so fast? (Conditional Mood)
It’s good to be able to speak foreign languages. (Infinitive)
He was known to have been able to break any lock. (Perfect Infinitive)
The idea of probability can be rendered by different modal verbs, according to the degree of certainty. In other words, they can be used when we want to say how sure we are that something happened, is happening or will happen. These modals are often called modals of deduction/ speculation/ probability/ certainty. Thus, they express possibility (CAN/ COULD/ MAY (NOT) MIGHT (NOT)), probability (SHOULD (NOT)/ OUGHT TO), logical deduction or certainty (MUST/ HAVE TO/ CAN’T/ WILL (NOT)/ WOULD (NOT)).
Possibility in the present/ future time
CAN/ MAY (NOT) – are used to express that something is (generally) possible, something we know sometimes happens or maybe is happening now/ will happen in the future. They can express a possibility which involves doubt or uncertainty. Can or could usually in the interrogative suggest puzzlement, impatience or surprise.
e.g. Prices can be high there./ Smoking can damage people’s health.(generally possible)/ Take your umbrella, it may rain. (Perhaps it will rain.)/ It may not rain today. (It’s possible that it will not rain.) They can/ may arrive any minute./ They may not arrive today. (Maybe they won’t arrive today.) Can it be true? (doubt) What can/ could he mean? (puzzlement) Who may be? (surprise)
COULD/ MIGHT/ MIGHT NOT – are used to express the ideas mentioned above, but a greater uncertainty or doubt is suggested. They are used as Present Conditionals.
e.g. We could leave in two hours./ You could/ might get a reward for it. (possibility)
Who could/ might be? (doubt/ surprise) It could/ might rain./ It might not rain.
They can also be used:
in the Reported Speech – used as “past” forms of can/ may:
e.g. I thought it might rain./ He told me he could come by train.
in the Conditional Mood – also used to express possibility depending on circumstances in conditional sentences of the second or mixed types:
e.g. We could/ might win if we were lucky. (Present Conditional)
They could be here tomorrow if the weather is fine. (Present Conditional)
The Progressive Aspect of the Infinitive can be used with CAN/ COULD/ MAY/ MIGHT in order to express actions which may be in progress at the moment of speaking: e.g. He may/ could/ might be sleeping in his room. (Maybe he is sleeping now.)
Possibility in the past
CAN/ COULD/ MAY (NOT)/ MIGHT (NOT) – all of them can express possibility in the past when they are accompanied by a Perfect Infinite. They also appear as Past Conditionals in conditional sentences of the third type, showing a possibility which depended on a condition.
e.g. He can have fired us. (rarely used)/ She may have fallen asleep./ She could have taken the wrong bus./ He might have worked late.
Passive constructions are also possible when the result or the agent of the action is emphasized. e.g. I could have been killed if it hadn’t been for your help. (the result is important)/ The mistake might have been made by my friend. (the agent is emphasized)
The Progressive Aspect can also be used for actions which were probably in progress at a certain past time. e.g. They may/ could/ might have been working at the time you called them.
It must be mentioned here that the negative form of can/ could (can’t/ couldn’t) don’t express possibility, but they show impossibility or the certainty that something isn’t happening/ doesn’t happen/ won’t happen/ didn’t happen. (e.g. They can’t be serious! He can’t have lied to me./ She couldn’t have done that.)
Probability in the present/ future time
SHOULD (NOT)/ OUGHT TO – are used to make an assumption about what is probably true, if everything is as expected. They can also express logical consequence according to appearances.
e.g. They should/ ought to be there by now. (They are probably there.)/ The weather should be fine tomorrow. (The weather is likely to be fine)/ Considering his intelligence, he ought to succeed. (He will probably succeed.)
It shouldn’t take long to drive here. (It probably won’t take long.)
They can appear:
in conditional sentences of the second type, showing hypothesis and probability depending on circumstances or conditions.
e.g. It should work if you fixed it./ If I had time, I should finish.
in the Reported Speech – expressing present/ future probability.
e.g. He told me he should arrive by noon./ He asked me if that should happen.
The Progressive Aspect can also be used to show that the action is/ will be in progress at a certain moment. e.g. They should be reading in the library. (They are probably reading now.)
Probability in the past time
SHOULD/ SHOULDN’T/ OUGHT TO – when followed by a Perfect Infinitive, they can be used to make an assumption about something that has probably happened. They can also express logical consequence and past probability depending on circumstances or conditions in conditional sentences of the third/ mixed type.
e.g. The train should/ ought to have left by now. (It has probably left.)
He shouldn’t have been on holiday at that time. (logical assumption about a past action)
They should have arrived if they had caught the train./ If they left at 7, they ought to/ should have arrived. (conditional sentences)
The Progressive Aspect can also be used to show that an action was probably in progress at a certain past time. e.g. They should have been working when you called. (They were probably working)
Certainty in the present/ future
MUST/ HAVE TO/ CAN’T/ WILL (NOT) – are used to indicate certainty, strong likelihood, actions which evidently/ surely happen or will happen in the future. They can also express logical assumptions based on some evidence. CAN’T or WON’T indicate impossibility, i.e. the certainty that something isn’t happening or won’t happen.
e.g. He must be ill since he hasn’t come to school today. (I’m sure he’s ill.)/ She must come to the party tonight. (I’m sure she will come.)
He has to be at school; he left early in the morning. (I’m sure he is at school.)
They can’t/ couldn’t be brothers, they hate each other. (I’ sure they are not brothers – it’s impossible)/ She can’t/ couldn’t get too far on foot. (It’s impossible to get too far.)
That will be the postman. (I’m sure he is the postman)/ She won’t be at work now, she must be at home. (It’s impossible that she is at work.)
The Progressive Aspect can be used to show that an action is obviously happening at the moment of speaking. e.g. They must be learning in their rooms. (I’m sure they are learning now.)/ She can’t be telling lies. (It’s impossible that she’s lying.)/ He will be travelling to London now since he isn’t answering. (I’m sure he is travelling ..)
Certainty in the past
MUST/ HAD TO/ CAN’T/ WILL (NOT)/ WOULD (NOT) – followed by a Perfect Infinitive (except for had to and would) express certainty with reference to a past action, strong likelihood or logical assumptions that something happened. Can’t or wouldn’t show impossibility about a past action, i.e. we are sure that something didn’t happen.
e.g. She must have forgotten about our date. (I’m sure she forgot …)/ She had to be at home when you wanted to visit her. (I’m sure she was at home.)/ They can’t have stolen the money, they are honest people. (I’m sure they didn’t steal …)/ The parcel will have arrived by now. (It’s sure that it arrived.)/ That was a long time ago, I would be ten at that time. (I’m sure I was ten.)
The Progressive Aspect can be used with these modals to express actions which were obviously happening at a certain past time.
e.g. They must have been sleeping when I called them. (I’m sure they were sleeping) We had to be working at that time. (We were obviously working)
He can’t have been playing tennis since it was raining. (I’m sure he wasn’t playing …)
It must be mentioned here that the negative forms of must and have to don’t express certainty, but MUSTN’T expresses interdiction (e.g. You mustn’t smoke here!) and don’t/ doesn’t/ didn’t/ won’t have to express lack of necessity. (e.g. I didn’t have to wear a uniform.)
I will conclude this section about the idea of probability with the comparison between the following sentences:
It could be sunny today.
It should be sunny today.
It must be sunny today.
I will classify the modal verbs which belong to this category according to the intensity of the necessity, starting from mild necessity or advice, which can be expressed by SHALL/ SHOULD (NOT)/ OUGHT (NOT) TO/ COULD/ MIGHT, going on with the idea of necessity as mild obligation or need and lack of necessity expressed by (NOT) HAVE TO/ NEED (NOT)/ DO, and finishing with strong necessity, obligation or duty expressed by BE TO/ SHALL/ MUST. Must can have the substitutes: to have to, to be obliged/ forced/ compelled to whenever the context requires it, for instance with reference to past or future time.
Advice with reference to present/ future time
SHALL/ SHOULD (NOT)/ OUGHT (NOT) TO – express mild necessity, moral obligation or duty and they can be used for giving and asking for advice or recommendation. To give advice in a particular situation, we can use expressions such as would, had better followed by short infinitives. (You’d better stay home./ I wouldn’t do that if I were you.)
e.g. What shall I do?/ Do you think I should/ ought to tell her? (asking for advice)
You should listen to your parents./ He shouldn’t take this responsibility./ I feel I ought to help her./ You ought to be more careful in the future. (advice, moral duty, recommendation)
Should (not)/ ought (not) to can also be used in the Reported Speech and in conditional sentences of the second/ mixed type:
e.g. He suggested that I should work more./ He should/ ought to work more if he wants to succeed./ If he wanted to pass the exam, he shouldn’t waste his time sleeping.
COULD/ MIGHT – sometimes followed by “as well” can be used to express recommendation or suggestion in sentences like: You could/ might as well try to fix it.
MUST can also express strong advice or recommendation/ suggestion in sentences like: You must see the film – it’s really good./ We must get together and talk this over.
The Progressive Aspect is also possible to show that the advice/ recommendation refers to an action which in happening at the moment of speaking.
e.g. You really shouldn’t be lifting that heavy box. (You are lifting it, but it’s not recommended/ good/ right) You should/ ought to be reading now.(criticism is suggested)
Passive constructions can be used when we want to focus on the result of the action or on the agent, the doer of the action.
e.g. This project should be finished in two days. (the result should appear soon.)
This project should be made by you, not by somebody else. (The agent is important)
Advice with reference to past time
SHOULD (NOT)/ OUGHT (NOT) TO – followed by a Perfect Infinitive can express recommendation or advice with reference to a past action, which involve actually the idea of criticism, reproach or regret. They suggest that what happened in the past was wrong or unfortunate, so the action is considered undesirable.
e.g. You shouldn’t have worked so hard. (recommendation + regret)/ You ought to have listened to me. (advice + reproach)/ You shouldn’t have blamed him, it was not his fault./ You ought not to have stopped your work half way. (recommendation + criticism)
Necessity in the present/ future time
HAVE TO/ NEED/ DO – express the idea of necessity, usually from external circumstances, i.e. implying that someone else decides what’s necessary.
HAVE TO can be conjugated in almost all tenses and moods (except for the Progressive Aspect and Imperative mood), thus being able to show necessity or external obligation in the present, past or future. Passive constructions and the Progressive Aspect can accompany it. Have got to is a colloquial variant of have to, used as a present equivalent in sentences like: I’ve got to see you!
e.g. I have to be at home at nine o’clock./ He has to clean his room./ Do you have to do anything tomorrow?/ He doesn’t have to buy anything./ I’ll have to leave soon.
We have to be brought some clean clothes. (Passive Voice)/ We’ll have to be working when they arrive. (Progressive aspect)/ I would have to buy a new car. (Conditional mood)/ I don’t like having to wear a suit and tie. (Gerund)/ He pretended to have to leave early. (Long Infinitive)
NEED is generally conjugated in affirmative sentences as a main verb and is followed by a Long Infinitive. (e.g. He needs to work more on that.) In interrogative and negative sentences, in sentences which contain semi-negative words (e.g. hardly/ scarcely) and in indirect questions it can occur without “to”, without the auxiliary “do” and the third person singular becomes “need” when used without “to”.
e.g. Need you work so late? = Do you need to work so late?
You needn’t worry about that. = You don’t need to worry about that.
I need hardly tell you …/ I wonder if we need be present./ He was told he needn’t take the responsibility for that.
The negative forms of have to and need express lack of necessity, i.e. no obligation/ necessity to do something. We generally use needn’t when the authority comes from the speaker (e.g. You needn’t come this evening if you don’t want to.) and don’t need to and don’t have to when the authority doesn’t come from the speaker (e.g. You don’t need to/ don’t have to carry an identity card.). (Richard and Wellman, 2002: 54)
DO is used to underline the necessity to perform an action. The idea of recommendation or request may also be implied (e.g. Do buy it, you’ll need it!/ Do speak to her!/ Do learn it!)
Necessity in the past time
HAD TO/ DIDN’T HAVE TO/ DIDN’T NEED TO/ NEEDN’T HAVE – express necessity, external obligation or lack of necessity (the negative forms) with reference to past actions, having a little change in meaning in the negative form, according to the context and the expression used.
e.g. I had to clean my room before mother arrived.
I didn’t have to buy a new dress for the party because I already had one. (It wasn’t necessary, so I didn’t do it.)
I didn’t need to go shopping, but I did, just for fun. (It wasn’t necessary but I did it.)
You needn’t have bought so much bread. (You did it, but it wasn’t necessary.)
Passive constructions are possible (e.g. My room had to be cleaned./ The room didn’t need to be painted./ This car needn’t have been bought.).
Obligation in the present/ future time
BE TO (am/ is/ are to) – expresses an obligation, a necessity as part of a fixed plan or an arrangement. (e.g. We are to meet at five o’clock./ They are to get married in May.) It can also imply an order or instructions (e.g. The regulations are to be observed./ You are always to knock before you enter my room.).
Passive constructions are often used with be to (e.g. A new school is to be built in the area./ The event is to be organized by the local authorities.)
SHALL – can be used with the 2nd and 3rd persons to express strong obligation, command in sentences like: You shall do it immediately. It is usually used in regulations or legal documents. Passive constructions are possible.
e.g. In case of dispute the matter shall be submitted to arbitration./ The members of the committee shall join the meeting.
MUST – expresses strong necessity or obligation coming usually from inside, i.e. the speaker decides for him/ herself what’s necessary (e.g. I really must be going, it’s getting late). Must can also be used for impersonal necessity, orders or regulations. (e.g. The lead must be connected properly or it won’t work./ All questions must be answered.).
The negative form – mustn’t – doesn’t express obligation, but it expresses interdiction.
Must can be use in the Reported Speech after a past tense in the main clause, although it has a “present” form (e.g. He said that I must finish the project by the end of the week. )
Progressive Aspect and Passive constructions can accompany must:
e.g. I must be leaving now. (The action is in progress at the moment of speaking)
The truth must be revealed. (Passive voice)
Obligation in the past time
WAS/ WERE TO – is used as past forms of be to, expressing the ideas mentioned above, but with reference to past actions: obligation, orders, instructions or necessity determined by circumstances. It can be used with a Perfect Infinitive, the idea of unsatisfied necessity being implied.
e.g. He was to take his medicines every day.
We were to have been in London now, if we had won the competition.
MUST – can be followed by a Perfect Infinitive in order to express unsatisfied obligation or necessity with reference to a past action. The action would have been necessary but it didn’t happen. (Hulban, 2002: 292)
e.g. We must have saved more money than we did./ They must have sent for the doctor.
Must can be replaced by various substitutes – to have to, to be obliged/ forced/ compelled to – in order to express obligation in the past, but also in the present or in the future, according to the context. e.g. He had to select the applicants./ They were forced to leave the room.
To have to, to be obliged/ forced/ compelled to, etc. – can replace must in order to express obligation with reference to any time. The above mentioned substitutes can be conjugated to almost all tenses or moods (except for the Progressive Aspect and the Imperative Mood):
e.g. I will have to sell her car./ I’ve had to buy a new pen./ I had to do it.
She will be obliged/ compelled to work more than that./ He has been forced to sign the papers./ She said he had been obliged to leave the country./ If I were forced to do that, I would give up my job./ It’s wrong to be obliged to do it./ Being forced by the circumstances, she moved house.
He said he had had to stay at home. (Reported Speech)
As a short conclusion, I would say that the intensity of the obligation depends on the freedom of the speaker to choose whether something is necessary or not. When we say that somebody should do/ ought to do something, it implies large freedom to choose whether to do it or not. When we say that somebody needs/ has to do something, the freedom of choice is restricted or limited. When we say that somebody must do something, there’s little freedom or even no choice implied.
When thinking about permission, I will distinguish between asking for permission, giving or offering permission and denying permission or interdiction. When giving or asking for permission, the degree of politeness or formality depends strongly on the situation, stress or intonation, and who is speaking to whom. In other words, according to the people we are talking to – whether we must be polite or familiar – and the register – formal or informal – we choose the right words to express our needs. Modal verbs can be used to render all these aspects.
Asking for permission
The most frequently used modal verbs when it is about asking for permission are: CAN, COULD, WOULD, MAY or MIGHT, each of them carrying a different degree of politeness and formality.
CAN/ COULD – are used to ask for permission in an informal context or in a familiar, colloquial style. Could shows either a more polite request, or it can be used in the Reported Speech, as the “past” form of can.
e.g. Can I go out and play?/ Could you lend me your phone?
She asked her mother whether she could go to her friend’s party.
WOULD – can be used to ask for permission in a polite way in sentences like: Would you mind if I sit here?/ Would you mind if I borrowed your pen?
MAY/ MIGHT – express the idea of permission in a formal context. May is used for official, polite requests, while might indicates some hesitation on the part of the speaker, making it a more personal, appealing form. (Budai, 2002: 121)
e.g. May I enter the manager’s office?/ May I ask you a question?
I wonder if I might call you later?/ Might I suggest you something?
Might is also used as the “past” form of may in the Reported Speech:
e.g. He asked me if he might leave./ She asked me if she might call me Tom.
Giving permission
CAN/ COULD/ MAY/ MIGHT – are used to give permission according to the context and to the request for permission. Thus, can or could are used in more familiar situations, the use of could being more polite than can, while may and might show a formal, official style.
e.g. You can use my phone./ You could come any time.
You may enter now./ He might leave if he wanted to.
When uttered by a person in authority or command, may can be interpreted as an order, a rule or regulation, having an imperative character:
e.g. You may leave now./ The patients may receive visits on Saturdays and Sundays.
Might and could are often used in conditional sentences to show permission depending on a condition. They can also be used in the Reported Speech as “past” forms of may/ can.
e.g. You could come with me if you are/ were a good boy./ Mother told me that I could go to the party./ He said that we might go back whenever we wanted to.
Interdiction
The idea of denied permission, prohibition or interdiction can be expressed by: CAN’T/ COULDN’T/ MAY NOT/ MIGHT NOT/ BE NOT TO/ MUSTN’T each modal verb implying a certain degree of imposing interdiction.
CAN’T/ COULDN’T show denied permission in an informal context. They are not so “strong” in imposing interdiction: e.g. You can’t go out./ Mother said I couldn’t go to the party.
Couldn’t is used as the “past” form of can in the Reported Speech, it can also appear in conditional sentences and expresses denied permission in the past:
e.g. We couldn’t leave the building during the lunch break./ He couldn’t get in the hall without a permit./ Father said I couldn’t go out with my friends unless I finished my work.
MAY NOT/ MIGHT NOT show denied permission in a formal, official style. May not is “stronger” than cannot in imposing interdiction. Might not is the “past” from of may in the Reported Speech and can also be used in conditional sentences.
e.g. You may not speak to me like that!/ He may not leave until the meeting is over.
He ordered that the employees might not leave the building./ We might not say a word unless he allowed us to.
BE NOT TO – expresses prohibition in a formal context. It can be used in the present tense to show interdiction with reference to the present/ future time, and in the past tense, with reference to interdiction in the past.
e.g. The doctor says I am not to drink alcohol./ You are not to enter any office you want.
She was not to join the committee. We were not to leave the building without permission.
MUSTN’T – expresses “strong” interdiction or prohibition in the formal, official style. It also shows legal or professional interdiction.
e.g. You mustn’t cross the street when the traffic light is red./ You mustn’t use a dictionary during the exam./ You mustn’t smoke in this area.
To be allowed/ permitted to – can supply the missing forms of may/ mustn’t to ask for, give or deny permission with reference to any time – present, past or future.
e.g. Am I allowed to sit here?/ Is he allowed to leave now?/ Was he permitted to say that?/ Have they been allowed to leave the country? / We were permitted to visit all the rooms of the castle./ Will I be allowed to ask questions during the meeting?
Tourists are not allowed to cross this line./ They haven’t been allowed to sign any paper.
To conclude this section about the idea of permission, I will use the following examples which illustrate different degrees of interdiction:
You mustn’t go there!
In this section of the chapter I will present the modal verbs which express request or invitation (CAN (NOT), COULD (NOT), MIGHT, WILL (NOT), WOULD (NOT)), offer or willingness (CAN, COULD, MIGHT, WILL, WOULD) and unwillingness or refusal (CAN’T/ COULDN’T/ WILL NOT/ WOULD NOT).
Request and invitation
CAN (NOT)/ COULD (NOT)/ MIGHT – may be used to when we want to ask for something or when we make an invitation. This attitude is usually expressed with reference to the present or future time. Can is used in informal, familiar style, while could and might are used in “more polite” requests or invitations, sometimes implying suggestion. They can also appear in conditional sentences.
e.g. Can you give me a helping hand?(request)/ Can you come to my party?(invitation)
Could you open the window?/ Could you bring me the book?/ Might you accept the offer?/ You might make a little less noise. (requests)/ Could you come along one day?/ You could come and see my beautiful garden./ You might pay me a visit some day. (invitations in sentence form)
You could help me if you aren’t busy. (request + suggestion) / You could see me if you missed me./ (invitation + suggestion)
The negative form can also be used to express the same values in sentences like: Can’t you close the door?/ Couldn’t you come earlier?
Could/ might can be used in the Reported Speech or indirect questions, as “past” forms of can in sentences like: He asked me if I could help him./ I was wondering if I could/ might do it for me.
Could and might followed by a Perfect Infinitive can be used to express requests with reference to the past time, usually in conditional sentences, but the meaning is actually not to invite somebody or request something – they show somebody’s attitude in certain circumstances.
e.g. Could you have come, too?/ Could you have bought me a blouse like yours?
WILL (NOT)/ WOULD (NOT) – express request or invitation in the same time. Would is used to make the requests more polite. They also imply the idea of willingness, volition. They can also be used in conditional sentences.
e.g. Will you carry this bag for me?/ Will you come tonight?
Would you wait for a moment?/ Would you like to come, too? Would you pass me the salt, please?/ If you would, you could come with us.
The negative form can also be used to express the ideas mentioned above in sentences like: Won’t you give me that dish, please?/ Won’t you stay a bit longer?/ Wouldn’t you like to come with me?
Would can be used in the Reported Speech or indirect questions in sentences like: He asked me if I would join them./ I was thinking that you would like to be our leader.
Would followed by a Perfect Infinitive express invitation or request with reference to the past time, especially in conditional sentences, but the meaning is not of request or invitation – it only shows somebody’s attitude in certain circumstances.
e.g. Would you have liked to see your native town?/ You could have come with us if you would have liked it .
Offer and Willingness
CAN, COULD, MIGHT – express the idea of offering something or being able to do something for somebody. They are usually used with reference to the present or future time. They can also appear in conditional sentences.
e.g. Can I bring you something?/ I can help you if you need it./Could I do something for you?/ I could give you some money if you want to buy it./ I might do that if you want.
WILL, WOULD – express the idea of offering, implying the desire, the disposition to do something. Will comes from the Old English word “willan”, meaning “to desire, wish, have the disposition/ a mind/ intention to do something”. (Hulban, 2002: 267)
e.g. Who will have some ice-cream?/ I will do the washing up!/ Would you like a cup of tea?/ I will tell you how to do it./ I will/ would show you the way if you need it.
Could and would can show offer and willingness in the Reported Speech, as “past” forms of can and will, and they are also used with reference to the past time, sometimes followed by a Perfect Infinitive.
e.g. He said he could fix it./ She told me that she would answer all my questions.(RS)
I could solve all your problems yesterday./ I could have cleaned the spot if you had asked me./ He would have done it if you had requested it. (past reference)
Refusal
CAN’T/ COULDN’T/ WILL NOT/ WOULD NOT – express refusal or unwillingness to do something. Can’t and couldn’t imply the idea of refusal because of inability or impossibility, while won’t and wouldn’t show the refusal because of unwillingness.
e.g. I can’t help you today./ I couldn’t do it even if you are my friend.
I won’t tell you who did it./ He won’t come with us, I’ sure of that./ I wouldn’t do it for all the money.
Couldn’t and wouldn’t can be used in the Reported Speech as “past” forms of can and will, and they are also used with reference to the past time, sometimes followed by a Perfect Infinitive.
e.g. He told me he couldn’t help./ I said I wouldn’t give you the answers.
I tried to persuade her, but she wouldn’t listen to me./ I couldn’t have lied to her.
Won’t/ Wouldn’t can be used not only for people or animals, but also for things and objects, implying the idea of “refusal” to work or function properly.
e.g. The dog won’t stop barking./ This knife won’t cut properly./ The orange wouldn’t peel./ The door wouldn’t unlock./ The window wouldn’t stay open.
To be willing to – is the substitute of will/ would for their missing forms. It is usually used with reference to present or past time, the future meaning being implied in the present form. It can appear in the Reported Speech and in conditional sentences.
e.g. I’m willing to do whatever you want./ They were willing to help./ He’s been willing to write the article.
I was wondering if you were willing to come with me./ He said that they had been willing to join him. (Reported Speech)
I would be willing to help if he asked me./ If I were willing to help him, I would do it.
Being willing to answer all his questions, I have to be patient. (Participle)
It’s good to be willing to help. (Infinitive)
There are many other ideas that modal verbs can express, so I will shortly present in this section a few of the other values that they can have:
Indifference
MAY/ MIGHT – usually followed by “as well” can express indifference with reference to the present and future time, implying also suggestion. Followed by a Perfect Infinitive, they express indifference, sometimes implying a slight reproach.
e.g. I may/ might as well stay at home./ Be it as it may.
We might as well have gone by bus./ I might as well have done it on my own.
Hope
MAY/ MIGHT/ WILL/ WOULD – can express hope, usually preceded by “I hope/ We hope/ etc.”, will and would being less formal and implying a higher degree of certainty.
e.g. I hope she may/ will get better soon./ He hopes he may/ might/ will get a better job.
They hope/ hoped that they will/ would come home soon.
Concession
MAY/ MIGHT/ WILL/ WOULD – express the facts or actions completed in spite of difficulties or expectations.
e.g. It may be spring, but it’s still cold./ Try as he may/ might he will not succeed.
Do what you will, I still won’t trust you.
Reproach and Disapproval
COULD/ MIGHT/ SHOULD – usually followed by a Perfect Infinitive express reproach or disapproval. When they are followed by Short Infinitive, they also imply suggestion together with reproach or disapproval.
e.g. You could be a bit quieter./ He might at least say sorry./ She should mind her own business./ You could have given me a call./ You should have told me the truth.
Intention/ Wish and Determination
WILL/ WOULD – usually stressed indicate intention, wish or determination to do or not to do something. Used in the negative form, they also imply refusal. They can be used with passive constructions suggesting order or command, in conditional sentences or after I wish …, If only …, etc.
e.g. I will do it because I want it./ I will never speak to him again./ Would you go to the party without me?/ He will not say a word no matter what.
I will be listened to!/ He will be obeyed no matter what!
If only he would change his attitude!/ I wish it would stop raining.
I’ll be grateful if you will help me./ If he would come, I’d be delighted.
Habit
WILL/ WOULD – can express repeated actions or habits in the present (will) or in the past (would), usually followed by action verbs.
e.g. She will talk for hours on end./ They will sit for hours watching TV.
We would go for long walks when we were younger./ Grandma would tell us stories by the fire when we were kids.
USED TO – is used to express habits in the past. The negative and the interrogative can be formed with or without DID (e.g. I didn’t use to/ I usedn’t to … or Did you use to/ Used you to …?). The most usual negative form is with “never”.
e.g. I used to eat a lot of sweets when I was a child./ I didn’t use to wear glasses.
Did you use to/ Used you to live in this town?/ He never used to speak to her like that.
Courage
DARE – expresses courage or imprudence, sometimes implying the meaning “perhaps” or “It’s probable” (e.g. She isn’t at home, but I dare say she’ll arrive soon.). It is especially used in the interrogative, negative and sometimes in conditional sentences. It can be used with or without DO and can be followed or not by TO. In Present-Day English it is usually conjugated like a main verb.
e.g. How dare you say such a thing!/ Does he dare to look in your eyes after lying to you?/ They dared to face him./ She didn’t dare to say a word./ He daren’t have come if you hadn’t invited him.
In conclusion, Modal verbs form, in my opinion, a whole system covering the area of communication through its diversity both in point of form and closely inter-related meanings.
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