FON University - First Private University - Skopje

Faculty of Applied Foreign Languages - Skopje

Seminar paper
Modal verbs in English used to express obligation
and possibility

Mentor Prepared by
Vis lektor m-r Ljubica Kardaleska Andrijana Dimitrieva

May 2011

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Content…………………………………………………………………….pp

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………3

2. Form of modal verbs in English………………………………………………...3, 4, 5

3. Function of modal verbs in English...........................................................…...............5

4. Modal verbs in English use to express obligation……...………………………3, 4, 5

5. Modal verbs in English use to express possibility/probability………….……..5, 6, 7

6. Potential difficulties for Macedonian students of English….................................7, 8

7. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..9

8. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….10

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1. Introduction

The position of Modal verbs in English is predominantly initially, i.e. at the beginning of

the verb phrase in English. Unlike other verbs, modal verbs do not show tense or number.

Modal verbs are common auxiliary verbs that indicate modality. Modality is the

grammatical expression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker including

possibility, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire and contingency.

Modal verbs are difficult in any language because of the wide range of pragmatic use of

modal verbs by native speakers. Some of the more common definitions (in no particular

order) of the modal verbs in English are:

- Can – ability, permission, possibility and request.

- Could – ability, permission, possibility, request and suggestion.

- May – permission, probability and request.

- Might – possibility, probability and suggestion.

- Must – deduction, necessity, obligation and prohibition.

- Shall – decision, future, offer, question and suggestion.

- Should – advice, necessity, prediction and recommendation.

- Will – decision, future, intention, offer, prediction, promise and suggestion.

- Would – conditional, habit, invitation, permission, preference, request, question and

suggestion.

2. Form of modal verbs in English

1. There is no –s in the third person singular:

She can ski.

She must be tired.

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It might rain.

2. There are no do/does in the question:

Shall we go for a walk?

Can I help you?

What should I do?

3. There is no don’t/doesn’t in the negative:

He can’t dance.

I won’t be a minute.

You mustn’t steal!

4. Modal auxiliary verbs don’t usually have past forms. Other expressions are used

instead:

I had to work hard at school.

Could is used with a past meaning in some cases:

I could swim when I was six. (= general ability)

The prisoner was able to/managed to escape by climbing onto the roof of the prison.

(Not*could escape) (= ability/performance on one occasion)

5. They have no infinitives and no –ing forms. Other expressions are used instead:

I’d love to be able to ski.

I hate having to get up on cold, winter mornings.

6. They are followed by an infinitive without to. The exception is ought to:

You must go.

I’ll help you.

You ought to see a doctor.

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7. They can be used with perfect infinitives to talk about the past:

You should have told me that you can’t swim. You might have drowned.

3. Function of modal verbs in English

Modal auxiliary verbs give additional information about the function of the main verb

that follows it. Although having a great variety of communicative functions, these

functions can all be related to a scale ranging from possibility (can) to necessity (must).

Within this scale there are two functional divisions: one concerned with possibility and

necessity in terms of freedom of act (including ability, permission and duty) and other

concerns itself with the theoretical possibility of propositions being true or not true,

including likelihood and certainty:

Must = absolute (often moral) obligation, order, requirement and necessity

Can/Could = physical or mental ability

May/Might = permission, option and choice

4. Modal verbs in English used to express obligation

1. Must and have to both express strong obligation. Must is used to express an

obligation that involves the speaker’s opinion. It is personal:

I must get my hair cut. (This is me talking to me)

You must do this homework carefully. (A teacher talking to students)

Must is also associated with a formal, written style:

Candidates must write in ink and answer four questions. (Instructions on an exam

paper)

Books must be returned on or before the due date. (Instructions in a library)

2. Have to express a general obligation based on law or rule, or based on the authority of

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another person. It is more objective:

I can’t play tennis tomorrow. I have to go to the dentist. (I have an appointment)

Children have to go to school until they are sixteen. (A law)

Mum says you have to tidy your room before you go out. (Mother’s order)

Must and have to be sometimes interchangeable:

I must be home by midnight.

I have to be home by midnight.

But, have to be used more often than must. If we are unsure which to use, it is probably

safer to use have to.

3. The negatives mustn’t and don’t have to are completely different. Mustn’t express

negative obligation – it is very important not to do something. Don’t have to expresses

the absence of obligation – we can if we want to but it isn’t necessary:

You mustn’t steal other people’s things. It’s wrong.

You mustn’t drive if you’ve been drinking. You could kill someone!

Some people iron their socks, but you don’t have to. I think it is waste of time.

When you go into a shop, you don’t have to buy something. You can just look.

4. Have got to is also common in British English but is more informal than have to:

I’ve got to go now. See you!

Don’t go to bed late. We’ve got to get up early tomorrow.

“Go and tidy your room”. “Have I got to”? “Yes, you have”.

5. Should and ought to express mild obligation, or advice. They both express what in the

speaker’s opinion, is the right or best thing to do:

You’re always asking me for money, I think you should spend less.

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You ought to be more careful with your money.

I know I shouldn’t keep buying you presents, but I just love you.

You shouldn’t sit so close to the television! It’s bad for your eyes.

5. Modal verbs in English used to express possibility/probability

1. We use must and can’t to express the logical conclusion of a situation: must =

logically probable; can’t = logically improbable. We don’t have all the facts, so we are

not absolute sure, but we are pretty certain:

He’s very fit, though he must be at least sixty!

Suzie can’t have a ten-year-old daughter! She’s only twenty-five herself!

Is there no reply? They must be in bed. They can’t be out at this time of night.

A walk in this weather! You must be joking!

2. We use may/might and could to express possibility in the present or future.

May/might + not is the negative. Couldn’t is rare in this use:

Take your umbrella. It might rain later.

Dave and Beth aren’t at home. They could be in the pub, I suppose.

We may go to Greece for our holidays. We haven’t decided yet.

You know we’re going out tonight? Well, I might not be able to make it. I might have to

work late.

3. We use will to express what we believe to be true about the present. We are guessing

based on what we know about people and things, their routines, character and qualities:

“There’s a knock on the door”. “That’ll be the postman”. “He always calls at this time”.

6. Potential difficulties for Macedonian students of English

Modal verbs in Macedonian are structurally different from the English modal verbs:

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They are always followed by the particle “да” which has similar functions as the English

infinitive particle “to”.

The verb after “да” gets inflections for tense, person and number.

Modal verbs themselves get inflections for tense, person and number and have participle

forms. In that sense behave more like the full verbs in Macedonian. Exception is the verb

“треба” and sometimes “може” and “мора”, which do not get inflections for person

and number.

The most common way of expressing past time for deontic modality is by changing the

modal in the required tense. This is quite different from the strategy used in English and

that is why learners have difficulty with forms such as (You should have come./She

might have been invited). Another reason is the complexity of the verb group in English,

which causes developmental errors.

For epistemic modality (possibility, certainty) the verb after the particle “да” is in past

tense and the modal is uninflected, so this is similar to the English construction.

Nevertheless, learners have problems with the perfect infinitive because of the

complexity of the form.

In Macedonian there are modal verbs expressing similar functions as those in English.

Learners identify a certain English modal verb with a particular Macedonian modal verb,

which they perceive as sharing certain semantic features. Many choices are due to such

identification, some correct, some incorrect.

Errors occur where there is no full correspondence in the meaning of the English modal

and its Macedonian counterpart. Those differences should be pointed out and learners

should be made aware of them.

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7. Conclusion

1. Modals are always the first word in a verb group:

I should go visit them.

I think it will be rather boring.

2. All modals except for ought to be followed by the base form of a verb:

I think it will rain tomorrow.

Someone may have seen them.

They should have known.

3. Ought is always followed by a “to” infinitive:

She ought to go out with Tom.

Sam ought to have taken his medicine.

You ought to be doing this, not me.

4. There is no –s form for the third person singular of the present tense modal verbs.

Also, there is no –ing or –ed form:

She can’t help him now.

I’m sure he can do it tomorrow.

She ought to have called him yesterday.

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 Bibliography:

1. Modern English Grammar. Macmillan and Company Limited, 1957, London-

C. J. Nesfield

2. English Grammar - with contrastive notes on Macedonian, 1997, Скопје-

Зозе Мургоски

3. Morphology, second edition, Macmillan Press Limited. 1993, London-

Francis Katamba

4. English language–Morphology-

Britannica Online Encyclopedia

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