English modal auxiliary verb
Encyclopedia
In the English language
, a modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb
. The key way to identify a modal verb is by its defectiveness
(they have neither participle
s nor infinitive
s). In addition, modal verbs do not take the inflection -s or -es in the third person singular, unlike other verbs.
The modal verbs in English are as follows, paired as present and preterite
forms.
Note that use of the preterite forms does not necessarily refer to past time.
The following have also been categorized by some as modal verbs:
Note that dare and need are much more commonly used as non-modal verbs, taking -s in the third person singular and having an infinitive and past and present participles. Further, some authors do not mention had better and explicitly reject ought (to) on the grounds that the main verb infinitive is required to include the particle to.
The following are not modal verbs although they have some similar characteristics:
(for example, "could have gone" instead of "could had gone" or "could has gone", and "He could walk" rather than "he could walks").
All English modal auxiliaries are defective in that they cannot be conjugated throughout the full range of forms that are normal for a verb. For example, none of the modal auxiliaries have infinitives; hence it is impossible to say e.g. "*I want to can speak French". In these circumstances, alternative expressions are used to replace the modal, e.g. "I want to be able to speak French."
(the then clause) in the conditional mood, such as in counterfactual conditionals: "If you bought a bus pass, you could catch as many buses as you liked without worrying about the cost of the fares." "If he were more polite, he might / would be better liked." In each of these cases, the "if" clause has present time reference despite the past subjunctive form of its verb, indicating something contrary to fact, and the main clause has present / future time reference. The time reference of the conditional can be shifted back to the past using the modal + "have" construction
, in which case the if clause takes the pluperfect subjunctive: "If they had wanted to do it, they would have done it by now."
There is not always an explicit protasis
("if" clause) in this use: "Someone who likes red and hates yellow would probably prefer strawberries to bananas" means the same as "If someone who liked red and hated yellow were offered a choice of fruit, he or she would probably prefer strawberries to bananas." Similarly, "I could help you with your work" gives a more tentative sense of ability to help than, say, "I can help you with your work" would; the implied protasis could, depending on the context, be along the lines of "if I wanted to help" or "if you wanted me to help".
forms of will and can respectively, appearing in counterfactual dependent clauses. For example, the indicative will as in He will come tomorrow is replaced by the subjunctive form would as in I wish that he would come tomorrow. Likewise, the indicative can as in He can do it now is replaced by the subjunctive form could as in I wish that he could do it now.
The preterite form should can be used as the subjunctive form of shall in the context of doubtful conditional statements about the future. For example, the indicative shall in I shall go there is replaced by the subjunctive form in If I should go there, ...."
In dialects that seldom use shall, will has a number of different uses:
Shall is also used in legal and engineering language to write firm laws and specifications as in these examples: "Those convicted of violating this law shall be imprisoned for a term of not less than three years nor more than seven years," and "The electronics assembly shall be able to operate within its specifications over a temperature range of 0 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius." In both cases, in accordance with prescriptive usage, shall is used in the third person to express determination on the part of the speaker.
The time reference of a shall or will statement can be shifted from the future to a time prior to a specified time in the future by using shall / will + have + past participle of main verb, as in Tomorrow at 5:00 I will have already arrived.
"shouldn't").
Should can describe an ideal behaviour or occurrence and imparts a normative
meaning to the sentence; for example, "You should never lie" means roughly, "If you always behaved perfectly, you would never lie", so obligation. The sentence "If this works, you should not feel a thing" means roughly, "I hope this will work. If it does, you will not feel a thing", so probability is being expressed. In dialects that use shall commonly, however, this restriction does not apply; for example, a speaker of such a dialect might say, "If I failed that test, I think I should cry," meaning the same thing as, "If I failed that test, I think I would cry"; here the use of should is for conditionality.
In some dialects, it is common to replace the subjunctive mood
with the modal auxiliary should: "It is important that the law should be passed" (where other dialects would say, "It is important that the law be passed"); likewise "If it should happen, we are prepared for it" or "Should it happen, we are prepared for it" (where early Modern English would say, "If it happen, we are prepared for it," and many dialects of today would say "If it happens, we are prepared for it" or would use the subjunctive "If it were to happen, we would be prepared for it.").
The time reference of a should statement can be shifted from the present or future to the past by using should + have + past participle of main verb, as in "I should have done that yesterday" (duty) or, less commonly, "It should have happened by yesterday" (high likelihood).
form of would is 'd as in "I'd go if I could". The negation is either would not or wouldn't.
As indicated above, would can be used for the conditional mood
in main clauses having a counterfactual
meaning: "I would go if I could (but I can't)".
Would can be used in some forms that are viewed as more formal or polite: for example, "I would like a glass of water" compared with "I want a glass of water"; and "Would you get me a glass of water?" compared with the bare "Get me a glass of water."
It is also used to make a hypothetical statement about a doubtful future situation even if it is not known to be counterfactual: "If we went to Keri Keri for Easter, that would be nice.
The time reference of a counterfactional conditional can be shifted from the present / future to the past by using the would + have + past participle construction, as in "I would have done it yesterday if I had seen the opportunity". This construction is known as the conditional perfect
.
Would can also be used for the imperfective aspect
in past time. In the sentence "Back then, I would eat early and would walk to school...." "would" signifies not the conditional mood
, but rather, repeated past actions in the imperfective aspect
(specifically, habitual aspect
) and one must use care when translating to other languages.
Furthermore, would can be used to shift the time of perspective of a future event from the present to the past: "In 1982 I knew that in 1986 I would graduate from college."
The meaning of the negated "would" form depends on the particular usage of "would". In its conditional usage, the main verb is negated: "I would not go even if I could" means "I would not-go..." = "I would refrain from going...." However, in the future-of-the-past form, "In 1982 I knew that I would not graduate in 1986" means "...I not-would graduate..." = "...It is not that I would graduate...." Likewise, in the past habitual form, "Back then I would not eat early" does not mean "...I would not-eat early" = "...I would fast early" but rather means "...I not-would eat early" = "...it is not that I would eat early...." In the latter two examples either the modal or the entire verb phrase is being negated.
Both forms can be used to express a present time possibility or uncertainty ("That may be."). Might and could can also be used in this sense with no past time meaning, although may conveys less hesitance (a somewhat higher probability) than do might and could.
When used in the perfect aspect, "may have" is used to indicate a lack of knowledge about events in the past, and "might have" is used for possibilities that did not occur but could have in other circumstances, in a similar way to other conditional statements.
May is also used to express irrelevance in spite of certain or likely truth: "He may be taller than I am, but he is certainly not stronger" may mean roughly, "While it is true that he is taller than I am, that does not make a difference, as he is certainly not stronger." (However, it may also mean, "I am not sure whether he is taller than I am, but I am sure that he is not stronger.") This is the meaning in the phrase "Be that as it may." Might can be used in this sense as well.
May or might can be used in the first person to express that future actions are being considered. "I may/might go to the mall later" means that the speaker is thinking about going to the mall; as such it means the same thing as maybe will.
May and might can indicate presently given permission and presently given mild permission, respectively, for present or future actions: "You may go now", "You might go now if you feel like it." May or might can be used in a question to ask for permission. One who is saying "May I use your phone?” is asking for permission to use the phone of the person being spoken to. "Can" or "could" can be used instead, although formal American English prefers "may". In both cases the preterite form is viewed as more hesitant or polite.
For the sense of permission (as opposed to possibility), there is no past form for may: "He may have done it" unambiguously means "Maybe he did it", and not "He had permission to do it". However, "He might have done it" could be interpreted as either "There is a slight possibility that he did it" or "It would have been okay for him to do it".
The meaning of the negated "may" or "might" form depends on the usage of the modal. When possibility is indicated, the main verb is negated: "That may/might not be" means "That may/might not-be" = "That may fail to be true." But when permission is being expressed, the modal or the entire verb phrase is negated: "You may not go now" does not mean "You may not-go now" = "You may stay now", but rather means "You not-may go now" = "You are forbidden to go now." Sometimes, though, the main verb is negated by putting stress on both "not" and the main verb: "You may go or not go, whichever you wish."
Can is used to express ability. "I can speak English" means "I am able to speak English", or "I know how to speak English". The past form for this meaning is as in "Twenty years ago I could speak [was able to speak] English".
Can or could is also used to express that some state of affairs is presently possible, without referring to the ability of a person to do something: "There can be a very strong rivalry between siblings" can have the same meaning as "There is sometimes a very strong rivalry between siblings"; and "That can happen" is similar in meaning to "That could happen" except that using could rather than can expresses more doubt.
Cannot and can't can be used to express beliefs about situations: "That can't be true" expresses strong disbelief"; but in the affirmative with doubt, could must be used, as in "That could be true".
Both can and could can be used to make requests: "Can you pass me the cheese?" means "Please pass me the cheese". Could can be used in the same way but indicates greater politeness.
Informally, can is frequently used to mean may in the sense of permission: "You can go now."
The form could can indicate either ability in the past (= was able to) ("I could swim when I was five years old"), permission in the past (= was permitted to) ("My mother said that I could go swimming"), possibility in the present (=maybe) ("It could be raining now"), or conditional ability in the present (= would be able to) ("I could do it if you would let me").
The past counterpart of the use of could to mean present conditional ability ("I could pass that test now (if I were to take it now)") is the use of could + have + past participle, as in "I could have passed that test yesterday (if I had taken it yesterday)".
The negative forms virtually always negate the modal or entire verb phrase, and never just the main verb: "I cannot speak English" = "I am not able to speak English"; "You cannot go now" = "You are not allowed to go now"; "He could not do that" implying either permission or ability means "He was not allowed/able to do that." Rarely, the main verb is negated by putting stress on "not" and the main verb: "I could not do that, but I'm going to do it anyway."
Can is only used in a few situations in the perfect aspect:
Must and have to are used to express that something is obligatory ("He must leave"; "He has to leave"). Must can be used to express a prohibition such as "You must not smoke in here", or a resolution such as "I mustn't make that mistake again".
There is a distinction between "must" and "have to" in the negative forms: "must not" negates the main verb, while "do not have to" negates "have to". In the sentence "You must not go" = "You must not-go", it is being expressed that it is obligatory for the person being spoken to not go; whereas in the sentence "You do not have to go" it is being expressed that it is not obligatory for the person to go.
Must and have to can also be used to express strongly held beliefs (the epistemic rather than deontic
use), such as in "It must be here somewhere" or "It has to be here somewhere", with the same meaning as "I believe that it's very likely that it is here somewhere."
There is a past form for the sense of high probability ("He must have done that" = "He very probably did that"), but there is no past tense form for the sense of obligation ("He must have done that" cannot be understood as "He had to do that" = "He was required to do that").
In addition, ought to, like should, can be used to express relatively high probability, as in "It ought to rain today."
The time reference of an ought to statement can be shifted from the present or future to the past by using ought to + have + past participle of main verb, as in "I ought to have done that yesterday" (duty) or, less commonly, "It ought to have happened by yesterday" (high likelihood).
However, in the sentence "He does not dare to lose weight" or "He needs to lose weight," dare or need is not being used as an auxiliary, as (1) it takes the full infinitive "to lose" as the head of the verb phrase rather than the bare infinitive "lose" that occurs in a sentence like "He can lose weight", (2) it is conjugated in the third person singular, and (3) it can take the auxiliary "does".
In its use as a modal auxiliary in the negative, need has a form using "have" that shifts the time reference to the past ("he need not have done that"); alternatively, the non-modal form can be substituted, as in "He needed to not do that". However, the modal "dare" cannot be given a past time meaning using "have" (one cannot say "He dare not have done that"); instead, the non-modal form must be substituted, as in "He did not dare to do that").
, "She used not to like me".
In Standard American English, although not the most formal style, used to can follow did not (or didn't), as in "She didn't use to like me". Here it is the entire verb form "used to like" that is being negated, to mean "It's not that she used to like me."
, is attested from around 1400.
It is also sometimes used for emphasis: "I do understand your concern, but I do not think that will happen." Also, do sometimes acts as a pro-verb
: "I enjoy it, I really do[enjoy it] , but I am not good at it." (Other auxiliaries do this as well: "I can do it, I really can [do it] , it just takes me longer"; but it bears particular note that in the case of do, it is often used as a pro-verb when it would be absent if the verb were present.) Because it does not affect the meaning of its verb as regards the attitude of the speaker toward the action, it is not a modal auxiliary. In a sense, it indicates the lack of a modal auxiliary. (Do is also different in that it has a distinct third-person singular form, does, and in that its past tense, did, is used exactly as a past tense, not as a more general remote form).
Am/is/are/was/were going to is not a modal because (1) it has an infinitive form to go, and (2) it requires a helping verb, which conjugates by person/number.
A greater variety of double modals appears in some regional dialects. In Southern American English
, for example, phrases such as might could or ought to should are sometimes used in conversation. The double modal may sometimes be redundant, as in "I ought to should do something about it", where ought to and should are synonymous and either one could be removed from the sentence. In other double modals, the two modal verbs convey different meanings, such as "I might could do something about it tomorrow", where could indicates the ability to do something and might shows uncertaintly about that ability.
These kinds of double modal phrases are not regarded as standard, although a combination of a modal with a modal-like construction may be used instead. "I might could do something about it" is more often expressed as "I might be able to do something about it", which is considered more standard. Similarly used to could, which appears for example in country singer Bill Carlisle
's 1951 song "Too Old to Cut the Mustard":
is usually expressed as used to be able to. Double modals can also be avoided by replacing one of the modal verbs with an appropriate adverb, such as using probably could or might possibly in place of might could.
Double modals also occur in the closely related Germanic language Scots
.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, a modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verb
In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...
. The key way to identify a modal verb is by its defectiveness
Defective verb
In linguistics, a defective verb is a verb which is missing e.g. a past tense, or cannot be used in some other way that normal verbs come. Formally, it is a verb with an incomplete conjugation. Defective verbs cannot be conjugated in certain tenses, aspects, or moods.-Arabic:In Arabic, defective...
(they have neither participle
Participle
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
s nor infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
s). In addition, modal verbs do not take the inflection -s or -es in the third person singular, unlike other verbs.
The modal verbs in English are as follows, paired as present and preterite
Preterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
forms.
- shall and should
- will and would
- may and might
- can and could
- mote (Archaic) and must
Note that use of the preterite forms does not necessarily refer to past time.
The following have also been categorized by some as modal verbs:
- ought (to)
- had better
- dare
- need
Note that dare and need are much more commonly used as non-modal verbs, taking -s in the third person singular and having an infinitive and past and present participles. Further, some authors do not mention had better and explicitly reject ought (to) on the grounds that the main verb infinitive is required to include the particle to.
The following are not modal verbs although they have some similar characteristics:
- used to
- do
- be going to
- have to
Syntax
If a verb is preceded by multiple auxiliary verbs including a modal, as in "it could have been eaten," the modal will always appear before the other auxiliary verbs. A verb or auxiliary verb following a modal always appears in its basic formEnglish verbs
Verbs in the English language are a part of speech and typically describe an action, an event, or a state.While English has many irregular verbs , for the regular ones the conjugation rules are quite straightforward...
(for example, "could have gone" instead of "could had gone" or "could has gone", and "He could walk" rather than "he could walks").
Replacement for defective forms
| Modal | Equivalent |
|---|---|
| can | be able to |
| must | have to |
| will, shall (future) | be going to |
| should, ought to | be supposed to |
All English modal auxiliaries are defective in that they cannot be conjugated throughout the full range of forms that are normal for a verb. For example, none of the modal auxiliaries have infinitives; hence it is impossible to say e.g. "*I want to can speak French". In these circumstances, alternative expressions are used to replace the modal, e.g. "I want to be able to speak French."
Reduction of pronunciation
In fast speech, a minor word following a modal is often pronounced in a diminished way: for example, "oughtta" /ɔːtǝ/ for "ought to", "shoulda" /ʃʊdǝ/ for "should have", "coulda" /kʊdǝ/ for "could have", "musta" /mʌstǝ/ for "must have", etc.Past time use
Some preterite forms may be used when referring to situations seen from the perspective of an earlier time. For example, would is originally the past tense of will, and it can still be used in that sense. The statement "People think that we will all be driving hovercars by the year 2000", spoken in the 1960s, can be represented after 2000 by replacing the verbs in italics by the appropriate preterite forms: "In the 1960s, people thought we would all be driving hovercars by the year 2000." Likewise, "I can do that" may become "I could do that when I was younger, but not anymore."Conditional use
The preterite forms can also be used in the apodosisApodosis
Apodosis may refer to:*In linguistics, the main clause in a conditional sentence*In logic, the apodosis corresponds to the consequent; ....
(the then clause) in the conditional mood, such as in counterfactual conditionals: "If you bought a bus pass, you could catch as many buses as you liked without worrying about the cost of the fares." "If he were more polite, he might / would be better liked." In each of these cases, the "if" clause has present time reference despite the past subjunctive form of its verb, indicating something contrary to fact, and the main clause has present / future time reference. The time reference of the conditional can be shifted back to the past using the modal + "have" construction
Conditional perfect
In linguistics, the conditional perfect is the composed form of the conditional mood. It refers to a hypothetical action in the past, contingent on something else that did not occur in the past...
, in which case the if clause takes the pluperfect subjunctive: "If they had wanted to do it, they would have done it by now."
There is not always an explicit protasis
Protasis (linguistics)
In linguistics, a protasis is the subordinate clause in a conditional sentence. For example, in "if X, then Y", the protasis is "if X"...
("if" clause) in this use: "Someone who likes red and hates yellow would probably prefer strawberries to bananas" means the same as "If someone who liked red and hated yellow were offered a choice of fruit, he or she would probably prefer strawberries to bananas." Similarly, "I could help you with your work" gives a more tentative sense of ability to help than, say, "I can help you with your work" would; the implied protasis could, depending on the context, be along the lines of "if I wanted to help" or "if you wanted me to help".
Subjunctive use
The preterite forms would and could can be used as subjunctiveSubjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
forms of will and can respectively, appearing in counterfactual dependent clauses. For example, the indicative will as in He will come tomorrow is replaced by the subjunctive form would as in I wish that he would come tomorrow. Likewise, the indicative can as in He can do it now is replaced by the subjunctive form could as in I wish that he could do it now.
The preterite form should can be used as the subjunctive form of shall in the context of doubtful conditional statements about the future. For example, the indicative shall in I shall go there is replaced by the subjunctive form in If I should go there, ...."
Shall and will
Shall is used in many of the same senses as will, though not all dialects use shall. In prescriptive English usage, shall in the first person, singular or plural, indicates mere futurity, but in other persons shows an order, command or prophecy: "Cinderella, you shall go to the ball!" Likewise, will generally indicates futurity in the second and third persons but willingness/determination in the first person.In dialects that seldom use shall, will has a number of different uses:
- It can express aspect alone, without implying futurity: In "He will make mistakes, won't he?", the reference is to a tendency in the past, present, and future and as such expresses habitual aspect.
- It can express probability in the present time, as in "That will be John at the door", or obligation, as in "You will do it right now".
- It can express both intention and futurity, as in "I will do it."
- It can express futurity: "The sun will die in a few billion years."
Shall is also used in legal and engineering language to write firm laws and specifications as in these examples: "Those convicted of violating this law shall be imprisoned for a term of not less than three years nor more than seven years," and "The electronics assembly shall be able to operate within its specifications over a temperature range of 0 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius." In both cases, in accordance with prescriptive usage, shall is used in the third person to express determination on the part of the speaker.
The time reference of a shall or will statement can be shifted from the future to a time prior to a specified time in the future by using shall / will + have + past participle of main verb, as in Tomorrow at 5:00 I will have already arrived.
Should
Should is commonly used, even in dialects where shall is not. The negation is "should not" (or the contractionContraction (grammar)
A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters....
"shouldn't").
Should can describe an ideal behaviour or occurrence and imparts a normative
Norm (philosophy)
Norms are concepts of practical import, oriented to effecting an action, rather than conceptual abstractions that describe, explain, and express. Normative sentences imply “ought-to” types of statements and assertions, in distinction to sentences that provide “is” types of statements and assertions...
meaning to the sentence; for example, "You should never lie" means roughly, "If you always behaved perfectly, you would never lie", so obligation. The sentence "If this works, you should not feel a thing" means roughly, "I hope this will work. If it does, you will not feel a thing", so probability is being expressed. In dialects that use shall commonly, however, this restriction does not apply; for example, a speaker of such a dialect might say, "If I failed that test, I think I should cry," meaning the same thing as, "If I failed that test, I think I would cry"; here the use of should is for conditionality.
In some dialects, it is common to replace the subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
with the modal auxiliary should: "It is important that the law should be passed" (where other dialects would say, "It is important that the law be passed"); likewise "If it should happen, we are prepared for it" or "Should it happen, we are prepared for it" (where early Modern English would say, "If it happen, we are prepared for it," and many dialects of today would say "If it happens, we are prepared for it" or would use the subjunctive "If it were to happen, we would be prepared for it.").
The time reference of a should statement can be shifted from the present or future to the past by using should + have + past participle of main verb, as in "I should have done that yesterday" (duty) or, less commonly, "It should have happened by yesterday" (high likelihood).
Would
The contractedContraction (grammar)
A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters....
form of would is 'd as in "I'd go if I could". The negation is either would not or wouldn't.
As indicated above, would can be used for the conditional mood
Conditional mood
In linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...
in main clauses having a counterfactual
Counterfactual conditional
A counterfactual conditional, subjunctive conditional, or remote conditional, abbreviated , is a conditional statement indicating what would be the case if its antecedent were true...
meaning: "I would go if I could (but I can't)".
Would can be used in some forms that are viewed as more formal or polite: for example, "I would like a glass of water" compared with "I want a glass of water"; and "Would you get me a glass of water?" compared with the bare "Get me a glass of water."
It is also used to make a hypothetical statement about a doubtful future situation even if it is not known to be counterfactual: "If we went to Keri Keri for Easter, that would be nice.
The time reference of a counterfactional conditional can be shifted from the present / future to the past by using the would + have + past participle construction, as in "I would have done it yesterday if I had seen the opportunity". This construction is known as the conditional perfect
Conditional perfect
In linguistics, the conditional perfect is the composed form of the conditional mood. It refers to a hypothetical action in the past, contingent on something else that did not occur in the past...
.
Would can also be used for the imperfective aspect
Imperfective aspect
The imperfective is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed with internal structure, such as ongoing, habitual, repeated, and similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future...
in past time. In the sentence "Back then, I would eat early and would walk to school...." "would" signifies not the conditional mood
Conditional mood
In linguistics, the conditional mood is the inflectional form of the verb used in the independent clause of a conditional sentence to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances...
, but rather, repeated past actions in the imperfective aspect
Aspect
Aspect may be:*Aspect , a feature that is linked to many parts of a program, but which is not necessarily the primary function of the program...
(specifically, habitual aspect
Habitual aspect
In linguistics, the aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state. As its name suggests, the habitual aspect specifies an action as occurring habitually: the subject performs the action usually, ordinarily, or customarily...
) and one must use care when translating to other languages.
Furthermore, would can be used to shift the time of perspective of a future event from the present to the past: "In 1982 I knew that in 1986 I would graduate from college."
The meaning of the negated "would" form depends on the particular usage of "would". In its conditional usage, the main verb is negated: "I would not go even if I could" means "I would not-go..." = "I would refrain from going...." However, in the future-of-the-past form, "In 1982 I knew that I would not graduate in 1986" means "...I not-would graduate..." = "...It is not that I would graduate...." Likewise, in the past habitual form, "Back then I would not eat early" does not mean "...I would not-eat early" = "...I would fast early" but rather means "...I not-would eat early" = "...it is not that I would eat early...." In the latter two examples either the modal or the entire verb phrase is being negated.
May and might
May and might do not have common negative contractions (equivalents to shan't, won't, can't, couldn't etc.), although mightn't can occur in asking questions. ("Mightn't I come in if I took my muddy boots off?" as a reply to "Don't come in here! You'll get the floor dirty!")Both forms can be used to express a present time possibility or uncertainty ("That may be."). Might and could can also be used in this sense with no past time meaning, although may conveys less hesitance (a somewhat higher probability) than do might and could.
When used in the perfect aspect, "may have" is used to indicate a lack of knowledge about events in the past, and "might have" is used for possibilities that did not occur but could have in other circumstances, in a similar way to other conditional statements.
- "She may have eaten cake, if it was there." (Possibly it was there, and possibly she ate it.)
- "She might have eaten cake, if it hadn't been gone". (But it was gone; her eating cake in the past was contingent on the untrue circumstance of its not being gone.)
May is also used to express irrelevance in spite of certain or likely truth: "He may be taller than I am, but he is certainly not stronger" may mean roughly, "While it is true that he is taller than I am, that does not make a difference, as he is certainly not stronger." (However, it may also mean, "I am not sure whether he is taller than I am, but I am sure that he is not stronger.") This is the meaning in the phrase "Be that as it may." Might can be used in this sense as well.
May or might can be used in the first person to express that future actions are being considered. "I may/might go to the mall later" means that the speaker is thinking about going to the mall; as such it means the same thing as maybe will.
May and might can indicate presently given permission and presently given mild permission, respectively, for present or future actions: "You may go now", "You might go now if you feel like it." May or might can be used in a question to ask for permission. One who is saying "May I use your phone?” is asking for permission to use the phone of the person being spoken to. "Can" or "could" can be used instead, although formal American English prefers "may". In both cases the preterite form is viewed as more hesitant or polite.
For the sense of permission (as opposed to possibility), there is no past form for may: "He may have done it" unambiguously means "Maybe he did it", and not "He had permission to do it". However, "He might have done it" could be interpreted as either "There is a slight possibility that he did it" or "It would have been okay for him to do it".
The meaning of the negated "may" or "might" form depends on the usage of the modal. When possibility is indicated, the main verb is negated: "That may/might not be" means "That may/might not-be" = "That may fail to be true." But when permission is being expressed, the modal or the entire verb phrase is negated: "You may not go now" does not mean "You may not-go now" = "You may stay now", but rather means "You not-may go now" = "You are forbidden to go now." Sometimes, though, the main verb is negated by putting stress on both "not" and the main verb: "You may go or not go, whichever you wish."
Can and could
The negation of can is the single word "cannot", occasionally written as two words "can not" or the contraction "can't". The negation of could is "could not", or "couldn't".Can is used to express ability. "I can speak English" means "I am able to speak English", or "I know how to speak English". The past form for this meaning is as in "Twenty years ago I could speak [was able to speak] English".
Can or could is also used to express that some state of affairs is presently possible, without referring to the ability of a person to do something: "There can be a very strong rivalry between siblings" can have the same meaning as "There is sometimes a very strong rivalry between siblings"; and "That can happen" is similar in meaning to "That could happen" except that using could rather than can expresses more doubt.
Cannot and can't can be used to express beliefs about situations: "That can't be true" expresses strong disbelief"; but in the affirmative with doubt, could must be used, as in "That could be true".
Both can and could can be used to make requests: "Can you pass me the cheese?" means "Please pass me the cheese". Could can be used in the same way but indicates greater politeness.
Informally, can is frequently used to mean may in the sense of permission: "You can go now."
The form could can indicate either ability in the past (= was able to) ("I could swim when I was five years old"), permission in the past (= was permitted to) ("My mother said that I could go swimming"), possibility in the present (=maybe) ("It could be raining now"), or conditional ability in the present (= would be able to) ("I could do it if you would let me").
The past counterpart of the use of could to mean present conditional ability ("I could pass that test now (if I were to take it now)") is the use of could + have + past participle, as in "I could have passed that test yesterday (if I had taken it yesterday)".
The negative forms virtually always negate the modal or entire verb phrase, and never just the main verb: "I cannot speak English" = "I am not able to speak English"; "You cannot go now" = "You are not allowed to go now"; "He could not do that" implying either permission or ability means "He was not allowed/able to do that." Rarely, the main verb is negated by putting stress on "not" and the main verb: "I could not do that, but I'm going to do it anyway."
Can is only used in a few situations in the perfect aspect:
- With negative polarityGrammatical polarityGrammatical polarity is the distinction of affirmative and negative. In English, grammatical polarity is generally indicated by the presence or absence of the modifier not, which negates the statement. Many other languages contain similar modifiers: Italian and Interlingua have non, Spanish has...
: "She can't have finished yet." (The speaker believes that she has not finished.)
Must
Must has no corresponding preterite form. The negative form when the meaning is obligation is "must not" or "mustn't", and the negative form when the meaning is near-certainty is "must not". An archaic variant is the word mote, as used in the expression "so mote it be".Must and have to are used to express that something is obligatory ("He must leave"; "He has to leave"). Must can be used to express a prohibition such as "You must not smoke in here", or a resolution such as "I mustn't make that mistake again".
There is a distinction between "must" and "have to" in the negative forms: "must not" negates the main verb, while "do not have to" negates "have to". In the sentence "You must not go" = "You must not-go", it is being expressed that it is obligatory for the person being spoken to not go; whereas in the sentence "You do not have to go" it is being expressed that it is not obligatory for the person to go.
Must and have to can also be used to express strongly held beliefs (the epistemic rather than deontic
Modal verb
A modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality -- that is, likelihood, ability, permission, and obligation...
use), such as in "It must be here somewhere" or "It has to be here somewhere", with the same meaning as "I believe that it's very likely that it is here somewhere."
There is a past form for the sense of high probability ("He must have done that" = "He very probably did that"), but there is no past tense form for the sense of obligation ("He must have done that" cannot be understood as "He had to do that" = "He was required to do that").
Ought to and had better
Ought to and had better are used to express an ideal behavior or occurrence or suggested obligation, in a similar way to should. The negations are, respectively, ought not to (or rarely, oughtn't to) and had better not. The "had" in "had better" can be contracted, such as "You'd better shut up." In informal American usage, the had in had better is sometimes omitted. The negative forms negate the main verb: "You ought not to do that" = "You ought to refrain from doing that"; "You'd better not do that" = "You'd better refrain from doing that."In addition, ought to, like should, can be used to express relatively high probability, as in "It ought to rain today."
The time reference of an ought to statement can be shifted from the present or future to the past by using ought to + have + past participle of main verb, as in "I ought to have done that yesterday" (duty) or, less commonly, "It ought to have happened by yesterday" (high likelihood).
Dare and need
Dare and need are not commonly used as auxiliaries nowadays, but formerly they both were. Neither is used in affirmative declarative sentences. An example in an exclamation is "How dare he!", expressing willingness in the face of fear or contrary obligation. The interrogative form "Dare he do it?" or "Need he do it?" is equivalent to the non-auxiliary form "Does he dare to do it?" or "Does he need to do it?"; need, of course, expresses necessity. In a negative context "He dare not do it" is equivalent to "He does not dare to do it", while "He need not do it" is equivalent to "He does not need to do it". In both cases it is the modal or entire verb phrase, rather than the main verb, that is being negated.However, in the sentence "He does not dare to lose weight" or "He needs to lose weight," dare or need is not being used as an auxiliary, as (1) it takes the full infinitive "to lose" as the head of the verb phrase rather than the bare infinitive "lose" that occurs in a sentence like "He can lose weight", (2) it is conjugated in the third person singular, and (3) it can take the auxiliary "does".
In its use as a modal auxiliary in the negative, need has a form using "have" that shifts the time reference to the past ("he need not have done that"); alternatively, the non-modal form can be substituted, as in "He needed to not do that". However, the modal "dare" cannot be given a past time meaning using "have" (one cannot say "He dare not have done that"); instead, the non-modal form must be substituted, as in "He did not dare to do that").
Used to
Used to is used to express past states or past actions that were habitual but which are no longer. For example, "I used to go to college" suggests that the speaker no longer goes to college. Constructions negating the main verb exist in expressions such as "She used to not like me", or if the speaker is trying to avoid the split infinitiveSplit infinitive
A split infinitive is an English-language grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive form of a verb....
, "She used not to like me".
In Standard American English, although not the most formal style, used to can follow did not (or didn't), as in "She didn't use to like me". Here it is the entire verb form "used to like" that is being negated, to mean "It's not that she used to like me."
Do
As an auxiliary, do is essentially a "dummy"; that is, it does not generally affect the meaning. It is used to form questions and negations when no other auxiliary is present: "Do you want to do it?", "I do not (don't) want to do it." This particular use of do, known as do-supportDo-support
In English grammar do-support or do-insertion refers to the use of the auxiliary verb do in negative or interrogative clauses that do not contain other auxiliaries....
, is attested from around 1400.
It is also sometimes used for emphasis: "I do understand your concern, but I do not think that will happen." Also, do sometimes acts as a pro-verb
Pro-verb
In grammar, a pro-verb is a word or phrase that stands in place of a verb . It does for a verb what the more widely known pronoun does for a noun. It, along with pronouns and some other word classes, form the general group of word classes pro-forms. It is a type of anaphora...
: "I enjoy it, I really do
Going to
Am/is/are/was/were going to is used in some of the same situations as is will: specifically, to indicate imminent futurity ("It's going to rain"), distant futurity ("The sun is going to die eventually"), intention ("I was going to do that, but I forgot"), or a combination of futurity and intentionality ("I'm going to do it tomorrow"). It always implies prospective aspect, combining the present (or past when used with was/were) focus in the main verb am/is/are/was/were going with the futurity of the second verb. Thus, for example, "It's going to rain" combines a present viewpoint of the situation with a description of the future. This feature is analogous to the retrospective aspect of the English present perfect have/has + VERB + -ed, in which past action is presented from the viewpoint of the present.Am/is/are/was/were going to is not a modal because (1) it has an infinitive form to go, and (2) it requires a helping verb, which conjugates by person/number.
Have to
Have to is used in a similar way to must, as discussed above, except that have to is used either with an impersonal necessity (such as in "It has to be cloudy for it to rain") or a personal obligation ("I have to go to the dentist") while must is used primarily with personal obligations ("I must go to the dentist"). Have to can be used for an ongoing obligation, such as "he has to be careful". Have to is not a modal verb because (1) it has an infinitive form (to have [to]), and (2) it conjugates in the third person singular ("He has to do it").Double modal
In standard English usage, it is considered incorrect to use more than one modal verb consecutively, as modals are followed by an infinitive, which they themselves lack. They can only be combined with non-modal constructions that have a modal function, such as have to, which in spite of its function is not a modal verb. Thus, might have to is acceptable, but might must is not, even though must and have to can normally be used interchangeably.A greater variety of double modals appears in some regional dialects. In Southern American English
Southern American English
Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...
, for example, phrases such as might could or ought to should are sometimes used in conversation. The double modal may sometimes be redundant, as in "I ought to should do something about it", where ought to and should are synonymous and either one could be removed from the sentence. In other double modals, the two modal verbs convey different meanings, such as "I might could do something about it tomorrow", where could indicates the ability to do something and might shows uncertaintly about that ability.
These kinds of double modal phrases are not regarded as standard, although a combination of a modal with a modal-like construction may be used instead. "I might could do something about it" is more often expressed as "I might be able to do something about it", which is considered more standard. Similarly used to could, which appears for example in country singer Bill Carlisle
Bill Carlisle
William Toliver Carlisle was an American country music singer, songwriter, comedian and guitarist popular in the late 1940s and 1950s but who influenced the genre for more than 50 years. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.-Biography:Bill Carlisle was born in Wakefield, Kentucky...
's 1951 song "Too Old to Cut the Mustard":
- I used to could jump just like a deer,
- But now I need a new landing gear.
- I used to could jump a picket fence,
- But now I'm lucky if I jump an inch.
is usually expressed as used to be able to. Double modals can also be avoided by replacing one of the modal verbs with an appropriate adverb, such as using probably could or might possibly in place of might could.
Double modals also occur in the closely related Germanic language Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
.
Comparison with other Germanic languages
Many English modals have cognates in German albeit with different meanings in some cases (must = müssen, can = können, should = sollen). The same is true of modern Dutch (may = mogen, must = moeten, can = kunnen, should = zouden) and Danish (may = måtte, must = måtte, can = kunne, will = ville, shall = skal). One of the most interesting questions is why the modals can be used with the auxiliary werden in German to form a future tense, and why the infinitives exist in modern German, Dutch and Danish but not in Modern English.External links
- Verbs in English Grammar, wikibookWikibooksWikibooks is a Wiki hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation for the creation of free content textbooks and annotated texts that anyone can edit....
- modal auxiliaries Website/Project that collects phrases containing modal auxiliaries on the web (in German and English)