JOSÉ PASCUAL MALDONADO

TEACHERS

CENTRO DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS

31 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2011

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DEDECIATORY

María Maldonado López

Hugo Pascual Armenta

Dedicated to my teachers Jesus Ruiz Pulido, Octavio A. Lucio and Antonio Villanueva whose great advise has come with me since I was ten years old, who taught me everything about courage.

To my track and field coach, Sergio Barajas Acosta, a person who

To my sister:

Margarita Guadalupe Pascual

“I’m a big man, with a strong mood , I never regret of what Ido, even if everything fails” (soy un hombre fuerte de caracter dispuesto a dejar todo con tal de seguir sus sueños,no me arrepiento de lo que haga aun cuando todo fracase)

José Pascual Maldonado

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THESIS

MODALAUXILIARIES

By

José Pascual Maldonado

Teachers Training Course

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Jorge Jaime Ruiz Villalobos Centro deLenguas Extranjeras

PROLOGUE

It is important from the outset that we are clear about whatwe mean by the term Grammar. Many people think of grammar asa rather boring school subject which has little use in reallife. Grammar is often associated in people’s mind with oneof the following ideas: a dead language such as Latin,learning how to write ‘good English’, or learning how tospeak properly. None of these ideas about is wrong but theydon’t represent the whole picture.

In our case we shall use the term grammar in reference to themechanism according to which language works when it is usedto communicate with other people. We cannot see thismechanism concretely, because it is represented ratherabstractly in the human mind, but we now that it’s therebecause it works. One way of describing this mechanism is as

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a set of rules which allow us to put words together incertain ways, but which do not allow others. At some levels,speakers of a language must know these rules, otherwise theywould not be able to put words together in a meaningful way.

Even if they have never heard of the word grammar all nativespeakers of English know at least unconsciously thatadjectives are placed before nouns in english. Thus we wouldget unanimous agreement among english speakers that that theblue book is on the table (Where blue is an adjective, bookis a noun) is a possible sentence, whereas The book blue ison the table is not.

If we study the grammar of our native language, then we aretrying to make explicit the knowledge of the language that wealready have. We might do this out of pure curiosity as tohow language works, but we might do this out of purecuriosity as to how language works, but we might also findthe knowledge useful for other purposes. We might wish toteach english to foreigners, for example, or work out how aforeign language is different from our own language. We mightwant to work out how the language or the advertising makes animpact on us, or learn to criticize and improve our own styleof writing.

So far we have said crudely that grammar is a mechanism forputting words together, but we have said little about soundor meaning. We can think of grammar as being a central partof the language which relates sound and meaning. The meaningof a message conveyed by language has to be converted intowords put together according to grammatical rules, and thesewords are often conveyed by sound. The term phonology isoften used to mean the system of sounds in a language, andsemantics, the system of meaning. However, in this book wewill be concerned mainly with the central component of

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language, grammar, which relates phonology and semantics, orsound and meaning.

Semantics-Grammar-Phonology

So meanings are conveyed, via grammar, in sound; but whatabout writing? One of the ideas which many people have aboutlanguage is that is has to do with the written language

So meaning are conveyed, via grammar, in sound; but whatabout writing? One of the ideas which many people have aboutlanguage is that is has to do with the written language. Theword grammar in fact comes from the Greek grapho, meaning‘write’, but although statements about the origin of wordssuch as this maybe interesting historically, we cannot relyon them to tell us the current meaning of the word, asmeanings change in time.

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Contents

Introduction……….…………………………………………………………………………..

Modals..…………..…………………………………………………………………………..

Should and ought to ………………………………………………………………………….

Will and would; willingness and likelihood and certainty…………………………………...

Will and would; habits; used to ………………………………………………………………

May, might; can and could; possibility (1)………………………………………………….

May, might, can and could: possibility (2)…………………………………………………..

Can, could and be able to: ability…………………………………………………………….

Must, and have got to ……………………………………………………………………….

Needn’t, don’t have to and mustn’t …………………………………………………………

Permissions, offers, etc. ……………………………………………………………………..

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Polite questions with I as the subject………………………………………………………..

Polite questions with you as the subject………………………………………………………

Polite requests with would you mind…………………………………………………………

Expressing necessity: Must, Have to, Have got to…………………………………………..

Lack of necessity and prohibition: have to and must in thenegative ………………………..

Advisability: Should, Ought to, Had Better…………………………………………………

The past form of should ……………………………………………………………………..

Expectations: Be supposed to ………………………………………………………………..

Making suggestions: Let’s, Why don’t, Shall I/We………………………………………….

Making suggestions: Could vs. Should ………………………………………………………

Degrees of certainty: Present time …………………………………………………………...

Degrees of certainty: Present time negative………………………………………………….

Degrees of certainty: Past time ………………………………………………………………

Degrees of certainty: Future time …………………………………………………………….

Progressive forms of modals …………………………………………………………………

Ability: Can and could ……………………………………………………………………….

Using would to express a repeated action in the past………………………………………..

Expressing preference would rather ………………………………………………………….

Combining modals with phrasal modals ……………………………………………………..

Summary chart of modals and similar expressions…………………………………………..

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Introduction

As a part of my personal growth and self-development Iconsider the english grammar one of the most important

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aspects of the education and tuition for the learners, notonly it enables the student to have a better comprehension ofthe english language but also it directly reflects howefficiently the student dominates the different structuresand complexities of English, it is the spinal cord to perfectour knowledge and enrich our speech. I have picked thegrammar among other potential subjects, simply because Ilearned in a simple way by studying the grammar and Iextended this knowledge through the years, this made meidentify in conversations the grammar sentences, the wordsand other expressions of common use in English, this reallyhelped me to increase my english dominance and reinforcedevery time, more and more my skills. The modals are the partof the grammar undertaking the modal auxiliaries in english,this auxiliaries describe the speaker’s attitudes. In thisthesis I’ll approach the usage of the modal auxiliaries inEnglish, and give a logical approach and development andexplanation that confirms the reviewer’s point of view, alsoI will verify why the usage of modals is the spinal cord ofgrammar. First we’ll see a brief introduction to the conceptsof auxiliaries known as modals, then we’ll review the use ofpolite questions in regards with modals, the use of “must”,“have to” and “have got” to in regards with the degree ofnecessity, lack of necessity, advisability, expectations, andso on, in a nutshell every use of the modals. Our theoryshall just comprise the grammar rules including the modals,and the methodology included to support them. Basically, themain goal of the thesis is to compare the uses of modalsamong other books.

Methodology

The grammar as I mentioned earlier is one basic tool, for thestudents to have a first approach when they are first

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introduced into English language, the methodology to supportthis thesis and validate our hypothesis is to make a researchabout the theories and grammar uses among the many textbooksfrom prestigious universities dedicated to English languageknowledge, and many other authors whose contributions allowto complete and concrete our work, using other net resoursesand personal resorses, I give my personal interpretation ofeach part, and adhere new explanations to the former job.This investigation also provides with step-by-step order, forthe knew students whose grammar has not been reinforced,leads smoothly through the theory in a leading the readersthrough sequenced levels starting from the easy grammar untilthe most complex grammar topics. I used many textbooks fromCambridge Universty Press books to Mc’ Millan- Heinman, andeven Pearson, in order to provide with a variety range ofviews on the same topic.

Personal Motivations to elaborate this thesis…

As Junior High school student I used to be a gifted kid forthe languages, I remember once I met my group there was a boyin my group coming from Los Angeles, he was reluctant to stayin my school, now I imagine how hard it must have been forhim to set up to us and to adapt to a different schoolsystem. After many months he became a good friend of mine, hestarted talking to me in English, and teaching me some commonwords and “slangs”, then I found this was a new world for meI wanted to explore and to learn, so I started up my firstformal English course at age 12, and that was right here inthis city, after just two, three more months I was actuallyattending to the conversation club in the evenings, and I wasreally some stubborn student willing to be the best of theschool, that was at Harmon Hall, I really was the best

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student until age 18 when I totally turn to differentinterests in my life (athletics), the best of the courses waswithout a doubt proficiency , in which I really enjoyed fromthe grammar and the methodology explaining the use oftenses, auxiliaries, prepositions , etc. This course and theconversation course motivated me to learn more from grammarand linguistics, but I had to interrupt English for 5 years,I don´t regret I had taken such a decision, because fiveyears later I decide to give another try and finish theteachers course (2010), and now this is a materialization ofmy earlier studies on english that sooner than later I had toaccomplish.

The personal motivations for me to pick this subject on mythesis, were directly related to my interests in grammarspecially on the auxiliaries and prepositions, there’s agreat deal of books and media material that shows the use ofthese, in my case I chose a couple of well related textbooks, by Cambridge and McMillan, that for me are the best ingrammar, they illustrate the use of grammar with timelines,charts, diagrams and notes. The grammar is the basicstructure for the English students around the world to buildtheir abilities to speak English, they manage how to directto other speakers, they figure out the proper use of tensesand words, until they get confidence and start to communicatewith oral matureness, we can say that the advanced studentsdominate pretty well the grammar and do incorporate all ofits elements to their speech.

Well, grammar is not considered itself a science, it isconsidered a part of linguistics, and linguistics are studiedas a branch of the english language. The election of ModalAuxiliaries as a subject of thesis was because we validatethe grammar rules explaining the use of verbs and verbauxiliaries, we understand the concept of grammar by studying

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the parts of the speech, and the verb or the verb auxiliariesare an essential part of the sentence, through the study ofthe parts of the speech we do understand and inquire aboutthe use of the verbs and its analogues the auxiliaries, manyof the modals come with a tense or group of tenses accordingto its type, the suggestion modals talk about future, andpast. Eg, “You shouldn’t have wasted the inkjet last night”this is a past sentence, “You will be able to deliver yourthesis” this tells about this action will take part soon. Aswe see we use modals in a variety of tenses, so a modalauxiliary also tells us about with which tense we shouldcombine them. Hence modals are just what we need to focus andstudy and have a better comprehension of grammar.

Objectives

So far we have shown that auxiliaries and auxiliary verbs arethe core of grammar, we have stated that english is alanguage but with substantial differences according to theregion, we can say that english has its own “dialects”therefore we don’t say that a person from Australia, or SouthAfrica has a bad grammar, we say that he or she speaks highor low standard english. One of the objectives of this workand research is to show the reader, the high standard englishgrammar according to grammatical rules, and the socialprestiged language. We don’t pretend to end with language

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variety but just to demonstrate what is considered correctaccording to linguistic rules.

Show the use of modals as both verbs and auxiliaries. I thinkthis is pretty basic, for a student to dominate english andhave a better comprehension of grammar, they have tounderstand that that they function as both, and also tounderstand that many times they are followed by other verbsso this makes them work also a connection, a verb or a wordthat connects to another word or another verb. We are nottalking about connectors we are talking about modal phrases.

Show the degree of intensity, necessity (need), capabilityand ability. I think this is essencial too, any studentsshould manage to use these phrases and difference amongaccording to the situation.

And that the student or reader comes to the knowledge of allthe modals usage.

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Modal. What is a modal?

A modal is an auxiliary that connects to or more words orexpressions, this word means possibility, ability,obligation, necessity or strong obligation. The importance ofmodals consists in making the correct modals in theappropriate cases, according to what the speaker is trying toimply.

Modals.

The modal auxiliaries in English are can, could, had better,may, might, must, ought (to), shall, should, will, would.

Modal auxiliaries generally express speakers’ attitudes. Forexample, modals can express that a speaker feels, somethingis necessary, advisable, permissible, or probable; and, inaddition, they can convey the strength of those attitudes.

Each modal has more than one meaning or use.

Modals do not take a final s, even when the subject is she,he, or it.

Modals are followed immediately by the simple form of theverb

The only exception is ought, which is followed by aninfinitive (to + the simple form of a verb).

Phrasal modals are common expressions whose meanings aresimilar to those of some of the modal auxiliaries. Forexample: be able to is similar to can; be going to is similarto will.

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An infinitive (to + the simple form of the verb) is used inthis similar expressions.

Should and Ought to

This first pair of auxiliaries are the case in which we usean auxiliary to express, obligation and probability. In thiscase I would use should as a recommendation that is strongbecause if it is not taken we could have negativeconsequences, on the other hand I’d use ought to if it is anobligation that means something needs to be done in order toavoid negative consequences.

Obligation

Giving advice or making recommendation:

This soup is too salty, I think you should send it back. You’ll catch a cold if you go out like that, I think you

should take a hat.

Or saying what an outside authority recommends (although weprefer should in this case).

The manual says that the computer should be disconnectedfrom the mains before the cover is removed. (Ratherthan… ought to be disconnected).

However we use should (or would), not ought to, when we giveadvice with I:

I should leave early tomorrow, if I were you. (or Iwould leave…; or I’d leave)

Talking about a responsibility or duty: In this case shouldand ought to take the roll of an auxiliary meaning anobligation or strong responsibility, there’s littledifference between the two, anyhow I suggest the use of oughtto as an obligation that is urgent.

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People should/ought to be warned of the danger ofswimming off this beach.

I should visit my parents more often.

Probability:

Saying that something is probably true or will be probablytrue in the future:

Have we got any string? There should/ought to be in thekitchen drawer. (Because that’s where we always keep it).

You should/ought to have received the report by now

I enjoyed her first book, so the new one should/ought to begood.

We use should/ ought to + have + past participle to talkabout an obligation in the past. We often indicate somecriticism or regret:

He should/ought to have asked me before he took my bike.(I’m annoyed)

We should/ought to have taken a taxi when it rained.(I’m sorry we didn’t)

We also use should/ought to + have + past participle to talkabout an expectation that something, happened, has happenedor will happen:

If the fly was on time, he should/ought to have arrivedin Jakarta early this morning.

The builders should/ought to have finished by the end ofthis week., especially

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We can use had better instead of should / ought to,especially in spoken English, to say that we think it wouldbe sensible or advisable to do something. However, we don’tuse it to talk about the past or to make general comments:

I f you are not well, you should ask Ann to go instead.(or… you’d better ask…)

You should/ought to have caught a later train. (not Youhad better have..)

I don’t think parents should / ought to give theirchildren candies. (not …had better..)

When we make a logical conclusion from some situation oractivity, we use must not should or ought to

You must be crazy if you think I’m going to lend you any moremoney.

It’s the third time she’s been skating this week – shemust really enjoy it

We can use (be) soupposed to instead of should / ought to totalk about an obligation to do something. It is commonly usedin spoken English to express a less strong obligation:

I’m supposed to be there at 10. The work was supposed tostart last week.

Will and would; willingness, liken hood and certainty

We use will when we talk about willingness to do somethinglike in offers, invitations, requests and orders, and willnot or (wont) when we talk about unwillingness to dosomething (e.g. reluctance, refusal):

I’ll give you another opportunity to get the correctanswear

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Mum! Sue won’t give me back my pencil case.

Will and won’t express in this case, the desire orunwillingness like in the sentences above we use in the firstcase, will to express that the person involved is willing togive the other person a second opportunity on the other handin the second sentence we find that the person is complainingbecause something is been taken therefore he wants to recoverthe pencil, the girl taking the pencil won’t give it back tohim.

Notice that we can also talk about the refusal of a thing towork in the way it should:

The top won’t come off The key won’t fit the lock

To talk about a general or repeated willingness in the pastwe can do sometimes use would, but we can´t use would to talkabout a particular occasion in the past. Compare:

Whenever I had to go to town, Ron would give me a lift.(repeated)

I was late, so Ron gave me a lift to town. (not …Ronwould give me…) (=particular occasion)

However, we can use would not either when we talk aboutunwillingness in general or about a particular occasion.Compare:

We thought that people wouldn’t/would buy the book. (Ingeneral)

She wouldn’t say what was wrong when I asked. (not…would say…) (=particular occasion)

We use will (or won’t) to indicate that we think a presentor future situation is certain:

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You will know that John and Sheila are engaged. (=youalredy know)

Shall I ask Sandra? ‘No, don’t disturb her – she’ll beworking.

We won’t see them again before Christmast.

When we want to indicate that we think a past situation( seen from either a present or future view point) iscertain, we use will (or won’t) have + past participle .

The past seen from a present viewpoint

As you will have noticed, he has cut off his beard.…you noticed… <-- past____________________________x_____________ now

They will have reached home by now.

…they reached home…past

The past seen from a future point of view

Next Thursday, I will have owned my present car forexactly 20 years.

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Future …owned for 20 years…

_x________________________________x_______________Nownext Thursday

When we want to indicate that we think an unrealpast situation - that is, an imaginary situationor a situation that might have happened in thepast, is certain we use would have + pastparticiple:

I would have been happy to see him, but Ididn’t have time.

If your father had still been alive, he wouldhave felt very proud of you today.

My grandmother wouldn’t have approved of theexhibition.

Will and would; habits; used to

We can use will (for the present) and would (for the past)to talk about a characteristic behavior or habits, orthings that are or where always true:

Every Day Dan will come from work and turn on the TV During war, people would eat all kinds of things that we

don’t eat now. A baby will recognize its mother’s voice soon after it

is born. Early passenger planes wouldn’t hold more than 30

passengers.

We don’t use would in this way to talk about a particularoccasion in the past. Compare:

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Each time I gave him a problem he would solve it for me Last night I gave him a problem and he solved it for me:

{not …he would solve it..}

In speech, we can stress will and would to criticize people’scharacteristic bahaviour or habits:

She will leave all the lights on in the house when shegoes out.

I was happy when Sam left. He would talk about peoplebehind their backs.

When we stressed would in this way, we can also use it totalk about a particular occasion in the past. We suggest thatwhat happened was predictable because it was typical of aperson’s behavior:

Jackie says she can’t help because she’s got a lot ofwork on. “Well she would say that she always uses thatexcuse.

If we want to talk about things that happened repeatedly inthe past, but don’t happened now, we can use would or used to+ infinitive. Used to is more common in formal English:

We would/used to lend him money when he was unemployed. Tim would / used to visit his parents every other

weekend.

We use used to but not would when we talk about past statesthat have changed:

The factory used to be in the city centre. I used to smoke heavily when I was at university.

When we use would we need to mention a specific time or setof occasions. Compare:

We used to play in the garden. (not We would play)

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Whenever we went to my Uncles Frank house we would /used to play in the garden.

We don’t use either used to or would then we say exactly howmany times something happened, how long something took, orthat something happened at a particular time:

We visited Switzerland four times during the 1970s. She went on holiday to the Bahamas last week.

Study how we normally make questions and negatives with usedto in spoken Enlglish:

Did you children used to sleep well when they werebabies?

I dind’t use to like visiting the dentist when I wasyoung.

These forms are sometimes written as ‘...did… used to… ‘and’…dind’t used to…’, but some people think this is incorrect.

However, in more formal spoken and written English thefollowing questions forms are also used, although thisquestion form is now rare:

There used not be so much taffic. {more likely is Theredidn’t used to be…)

Used you to go to the University with the Evansbrothers? {more likely is Did you used to)Notice that nowadays very few people use used to intags:

He use to play cricket for Australia, didn’t he? {ratherthan …, usedn’t he?)

May, Might , can and could: possibility.

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We can use will (for the present) and (would for the past) totalk about characteristic behaviour or habits, or aboutthings that are or were always true:

Every day Dan will come home from work and turn on theTV.

During the war, people would eat all kinds of thingsthat we don’t eat now.

A baby will recognize its mother’s voice soon after itis born.

Early passanger planes wouldn’t hold more than 30passangers.

We don’t use would in this way to talk about a particularoccasion in the past. Compare:

Each time I gave him a problem he would solve it forme. And

Last night I gave him a problem and he solved it for me.{not …he would solve it…)

In speech, we can stress will or would to criticize people´s characteristic behaviour or habits:

She will leave all the lights on in the house whenshe goes out.

I was happy when Sam left. He would talk about peoplebehind their backs.

When we use stressed would in this way, we can also useit to talk about a particular occasion in the past. Wesuggest that what happened was predictable because itwas typical of a person’s behaviour:

‘Jackie says she can´t help because she’s got a lot ofwork on. ‘’Well she would say that –she always uses thatexcuse.’

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If we want to talk about things that happened repeatedly inthe past, but don’t happen now, we can use would or used to +infinitive. Used to is more common in informal English:

We would/ used to lend him money when he was unemployed. Tim would/used to visit his parents every other weekend.

We can use used to but not would when we talk about paststates that have changed:

The factory used to be in the city centre. I used to smoke heavily when I was at university.

When we use would we need to mention a specific time or setof occasions. Compare:

We used to play in the garden. (not We would play… ) Whenever we went to my Uncle Frank’s house, we would/

used to play in the garden.

So in this last two cases we see that would is commonly usedto express past states as in the case in which we mention thefactory, can be also a store or a specific thing that used tobe in one place but changed its location and that means itchanged its state.

In the other we recall and specific time or set of occasionsin which we used to do something.

We don’t use either used to or would when we say exactly howmany times something happened, how long something took, orthat something happened at a particular time:

We visited Switzweland four times during the 1970s. She went on holiday to the Bahamas last week.

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Study how we normally make questions and negative with usedto in spoken English:

Did your children used to sleep well when they werebabies?

I didn’t used to like visiting the dentist when I wasyoung.

These forms are sometimes written as …did… used to…‘and’ …didn’t used to… , but some people think this inincorrect.

However, in more formal spoken and written English thefollowing negative and question forms are also used,although this question form is now rare:

There used not to be so much traffic {more likelyis There didn’t used to be… )

Used you to go to university with the Evan Brothers

May, might , can and could: possibility

In affirmative sentences (that is, sentences which are notquestions or negatives), we use may or might to say there ispossibility of something happening or being true:

This may/might be his last major speech before theelection

The news may/might come as a shock to many of the peoplepresent.

When Frank gets a job, I may/might get the money backthat I lent him.

There is often little difference in meaning, but might cansuggest that there is less possibility.

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We can also use could, but not can, to express a similarmeaning. We prefer could to show that we are giving anopinion about which we are unsure:

Why isn’t Tim here yet? It may/might/could be becausehis mother is ill again.

There may/might/could be some cake left. I’ll go andlook.

We can use can in affirmative sentences when we talkabout a more general possibility of something happeningrather than the possibility of something happening in aparticular situation:

The temperature can sometimes reach 35 C in July Mountain daisies can be yellow or red. It may/might/could rain later. {not it can…)

We prefer may, rather, can in more formal contexts:

Exceeding the stated close may cause drowsiness. (from amedicine container).

We don’t use may to ask questions about the possibility ofsomething happening. Instead we use, for example, could(n’t)or the phrase be likely:

Could it be that you don’t want to leave? Are you likely to be visiting Greece again this summer?

It is possible to use might in this type o question, but itis rather formal:

Might they be persuaded to change their minds? In negative sentences, including sentences with words

like only, hardly or never, to say that something is not

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the case we can use can’t (or more formally cannot) orcouldn’t (or could not):

There coulnd’t be any milk left- I would have seen itin the fridge.

There can/could hardly be any doubt that he was guilty. There can’t be any more student applications since the

scholarships were over last july.

Now , let’s compare the use of may/might and can/could innegative sentences:

There are plans to rebuild the town centre, but it maynot/might not happen for another ten years. (=It ispossible that it won’t happen for another ten years).

There are plans to rebuild the town centre, but itcan’t/couldn´t happen for another ten years. (=It isnot possible that it will happen for another ten years.)

The difference is that we use may not or might not to saythat it is possible that something is true.

So in this context can and could are more like an affirmativestatement that something will not happen, whereas might/mayare telling us that there’s a chance is not true thatsomething actually occurs.

We use may well, might well or could well to say it is likelythat something will happen:

Example:

The profits of the company may/might/could well reach$100 million this year.

We don’t use can well in this case to talk about the future.However, can well is used to talk about something we think orfeel now:

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o I can well recall how I felt when John told us hewas moving to South Africa.

Other words commonly used after may, might, could and can tosay it is possible that something will happen are conceivablyand possibly:

The President may conceivably call an election in June.(=it is possibly to believe it)

The new parking restrictions could possibly lead fewercars in our cities.

May, might, can and could: possibility

Compare the sentences:

I’ll write the date of the meeting in my diary,otherwise I may/might/could forget it.

Jenny’s late. She may/might/could have forgotten aboutmeeting. (=talking about past possibility)

We use may/might/could (not ‘can’)+ have + past participle tosay it is possible that something happened in the past:

I thought I saw Tom in town, but I may/might could havebeen wrong.

Where’s Barbara’s camera?’ She may/might/could have seenit with her.

We use might/could (not ‘may’ or ‘can’) + have + pastparticiple to say that something was possible in the past,but we know that it did not in fact happen:

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If I hadn’t come along at that moment, Jim might/could havebeen the one arrested instead of the real thief.

If I hadn’t come along at that moment, Jim might/couldhave been the one arrested instead of the real thief.

The plan might/could easily have gone wrong, but in factit was a great success.

We use might (not ‘may’) + infinitive to talk about what wastypically the case in the past:

During the war, the police might arrest you forcriticizing the king.

Years ago children might be sent down mines at the ageof six. (passive form)

We can also use could + infinitive in examples like this totalk about past ability (see Unit 22). For example, ‘Duringwar, police could arrest you…’ means that the police werelegally able to arrest you.

We use may/might (not ‘can’)+ have + past participle to saythat by some time in the future, it is possible thatsomething will have happened:

By next Friday I may/might have completed the report. His maths may/might have improved by the time the exam

comes round.

We use may/might (not ‘can’) + be + -ing to say it ispossible that something is happening now or talk about apossible future arrangement:

Malcom isn’t in his office. He may/might be working athome today

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When I go to Vienna I may/might be staying with Richard,but I’m not sure yet.

Could can be used in the same patterns instead of may ormight, particularly when we want to show that are unsureabout the possibility.

Notice that we can combine these two patterns to talkabout possible situations or activities that went on overa period of time until now:

David didn’t know where the ball was, but he thoughthis sister might have been playing with it. (=from apast time until now)

We use may/might/could + well/conceivably/possibly + have+past participle to say it is likely that something wouldhave happened in the past if circumstances had beendifferent, or to say that by some time in the future it islikely that something will have happened.

I may/might/could conceivably have been tempted totake the job if it have been nearer home. (passive)

By this time next week, I may/might/could well haveleft for Washington.

Can, could and be able to: ability

a) When we say that someone or something has or doesn’thave the ability to do something, we can use can(‘t) forthe present or could(n’t) for the past:

He can analyse people’s handwriting We can’t afford to pay the bill. Anita could speak three languages before she was six.

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We can use be able to instead of can/could to talk about anability that someone has or had:

Helen can/is able to read well, even though she’s onlythree.

He could/was able to draw on the support of over 20,000troops.

b) In general, we use be able to when we talk about aspecific achievement (particularly if it is difficult,requiring some effort) rather than a general ability.

GENERAL ABILITY SPECIFIC ACHIEVEMENTPresent We prefer can (but can also

use be able to): He can speak Spanish

We prefer be able to(butcan also use can)

He has now recoveredfrom his injury andis able to driveagain.

Past We prefer could (but can alsouse be able to):

After only six months,Suzanne could play theviolin quite well.

We use be able to (notcould):

Jenny was able to leavethe hospital only sixhours after the baby wasborn.

However, we commonly use can or could, even when we aretalking about specific occasions, with verbs of the sences,feel, hear, see, smell, taste, and with verbs of ‘thinking’,e.g. believe, decide, remember, understand:

She could feel the spray on her face as the boat racedthrough the water.

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I can’t decide where to go for my holidays.

c) We don’t use able to When we talk about something that is happening as

we are speaking: Before be + past participle: This furniture can be

assembled by anyone, with just a screwdriver.

d) We use be able to, not can or could, if the idea we wantto express needs a to-infinitive, an –ing form, or aperfect tense, or if it follows another modal verb:

We were very lucky to be able to live in thecountry during our childhood.

I was awful, not being able to see you for so long. Since he left, none of the other team members have

been able to match his enthusiasm. We may be able to move some of the staff to a

different department.

We use sill be able to, not can, to say that something willbe possible in the future:

If the snow carries on like this, very few people willbe able to get to the concert.

When the new road is built, I’ll be able to drive towork in under half an hour.

However, when we make a decision now about something in thefuture, we use can:

You can go home when you’ve finished writing yourcomposition.

Perhaps we can meet next week.

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Must and have (got) to

When we say that it is NECESSARY to do something, we can usemust or have (got) to:

To get a cheap ticket, you must/have (got) to book inadvance.

Every animal on the island must/has (got) to bedestroyed.

When we want to say that it will be necessary for someone todo something in the future, we use must, have (got) to, orwill have to:

To get there on time, I must/have (got)to/ will have toleave home by 8.30.

Have got to is less formal than the other, and isparticularly common is spoken English. We can often use need(to) with a similar meaning:

Before you buy a house, you need to/must/have got toconsider all the costs.

Using have got to suggest to suggest that someone else orsome outside circumstances or authority makes somethingnecessary. We use must when the speaker decides it isnecessary. Compare:

I have to see the head teacher … she has called me toher office.

I must see the head teacher. …I want to discusssomething with her.

We prefer have got to when we talk about a necessity that ischaracteristic of a person:

Ann has got to have at least eight hours’ sleep a night.

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She has to drink two cups of coffee in the morningbefore she feels really awake.

c) We normally use must, not have got to, when we concludethat something (has) happened or that something is true:

With that pile of papers on his desk, Tony must newishing he’d never taken a job.

The hall’s packed. There must be about 2,000 people athe meeting.

However, in informal speech, we can use have got to:

Look at the penguins. There’s got to be about a millionof them!

You want to borrow more money from me? You’ve got to bejoking!

When we give a negative conclusion we rarely use either mustnot or hasn’t/ haven’t got to. Instead, we use can’t (cannot)or couldn’t:

‘I’m seeing Dr Evans next week. ‘That can’t be right.He’s on holiday then’

He wasn’t there at the time. It couldn’t have been hisfault.

e) Must has no other forms than the present tense (no pasttense, no participles, etc) and in past tense sentenceswhich say that it was necessary to do something, we usehad to instead:

Bill’s not here. He had to leave early. The car broke down and we had to get a taxi.

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To draw a conclusion about something in the past, we use must+ have + past participle:}

You must have been upset when you heard the news. She must have played really well to win. I wish I’d seen

the match.

f) Sometimes we can use either have to or have got.However, we prefer have to with frequency adverbs suchas always, never, normally, rarely, sometimes, etc.:

I often have to work at the weekend to geteverything done.

With the past simple, we use had to, especially in questionsand negative sentences:

When did you have to give the books back? (not Whenhad you got to… )

When didn’t have to wait too long for answear.

After contracted forms of have, has or had (I’ve, He’s, It’d)we use got:

It’s got to work this time. (not it’s to work… )

In formal English we prefer have to rather than have got to.

Need(n’t), don’t have to and mustn’t

Mustn’t and needn’t/ don’t have to

We use mustn’t to say that something is not ALLOWED andneedn’t or don’t have to to say that something is NOTNECESSARY:

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You must walk on the grass here. You mustn’t put anything on the shelves until the glue

has set hard. They proved that watching a chess match needn´t be

boring. We needn’t go into details now, but we seem to agree on

the general principles.

B) Need, needn’t, and don’t need to/ don’t have to

Need can be used as a modal verb (before a bare infinitive)or as an ordinary verb. Compare:

You needn’t speak so loudly. She needn’t come with us if she doesn’t want to She’s thirsty. She needs a drink. Jim and Bob are here. They say they need to see you

urgently. (= ordinary verb)

When it is a modal verb need is most commonly used innegative sentences, although it is sometimes also used inquestions:

Need you to go home so soon? (or, more commonly Do youhave to go…? )

Need I say more? (Or more commonly Do I have to saymore?)

We can use either needn’t or don´t have to when we say thatis unnecessary to do something:

I t would be good to see you but you needn’t (or don’thave to) come if you’re busy.

You needn’t (or don´t have to) whisper. Nobody can hearus.

c) Compare these uses of needn’t and don’t need to.

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To give permission not to doSomething we can use eitherneedn’t or don’t need to:

You needn’t cut thegrass, I’ll do itlater./

You don’t o need to cutthe grass, I’ll do itlater./

To talk about a generalnecessity,We prefer don’t need to:

You don’t need to beover 18 to get a disco./

You needn’t be over 18to get into a disco

d) Didn’t need to/ didn´t have to and need not have

When we say that it was not necessary to do something in thepast, and it wasn´t done, we use didn’t need to or didn’thave to. To show that we think something that was done wasnot, in fact, necessary we use need not have:

Chris and June phoned to say that they couldn’t comeeat, so I didn´t need/have to cook dinner. (I didn’tcook the dinner)

I needn’t have cooked dinner. Just as it was ready,Chris and June phoned to say that they couldn’t come toeat. (I did cook the dinner).

e)Notice how we use need with scarcely, hardly, and only,particularly in formal contexts:

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We need hardly point out that there is water shortage atthe moment.(it is almost unnecessary for us to pointout… )

I need scarcely add that you will be missed.(=it isalmost unnecessary for me to add… )

The changes need only be small to make the proposalsacceptable.´… hardly need to point out…,’ ‘…scarcely need to add…’and ‘…only need to be…’ are also possible, and lessformal.

Permission, offers, etc.

To ask permission to do something we can use can or could:

Can/Could I take another biscuit?

We use could to be particularly polite. If we want to putextra pressure on someone to give a positive answer we canuse can’t or couldn’t. For example, you might use couldn´twhere you expect that the answer is likely to be ‘no’, orwhere permission has been refused before:

Can/Couldn’t we stay just a little bit longer? Please?

To give and refuse permission we can use and can’t:

Okay. You can stay in the spare room. No, you can´t have another chocolate.

Notice that we prefer can/can’t rather than could/couldn’t togive or refuse permission:

I’m sorry, no, you can’t borrow the cartonight.

In rather formal English, may (not) can also be used to ask,give or refuse permission, and might can be used to askpermission (e.g. ‘Might I ask…?)

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b) We use can (for the present or the future) and could (forthe past) to report permission (see Unit 49 for more on thechoice between can or could in reporting):

Jim says that we can borrow his house as long as weleave it clean and tidy.

He said we can/could use the car, too.

To report that in the past someone had general permission todo something, that is, to do it at any time, we can useeither could or was/were allowed to. However, to reportpermission for one particular past action, we use was/wereallowed to, but not could:

Last century, women were not allowed to vote. (or …couldn’t vote.)

Although he didn’t have a ticket, Ken was allowed tocome in. (not …could come in)

In negative sentences, we can use either couldn’t orwasn’t/weren’t allowed to to report that permission was notgiven in general or particular situations:

We couldn’t/ weren’t allowed to open the presents untilChristmas.

If we use the present perfect, past perfect or an infinitive,we use be allowed to, not can/could:

They have been allowed to keep the Roman coins theyfound in their garden.

She is unlikely to be allowed to travel on that airlineagain.

C) When we offer to do something, or offer by making asuggestion, we can use can or could:

Can/Could I help you with your bags?

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You/could borrow my car if you want.

In offers that are questions we can also use shall or should:

Shall/Should I phone for a taxi for you?

If we use could or should we sound less certain that theoffer will be accepted.

We also use shall/should in questions that requestconfirmation or advice:

Shall/Should I put these books over here? Who shall/should I pass the message to?

We can use Would (you) like when we make an offer, but not‘Will…’:

Would you like me to get you some water? (not Will youlike me…?)

In requests, too, we can say (I)would like…, but not‘(I)will…’:

I would (or ‘d) like an orange juice. (not I’ll like… )

We can use should (with I or we) instead of would in requestlike this, but this is formal.

Compare these ways of offering food and drink:

What will you have to eat/drink? (not What would youhave to eat/drink?)

What would you like to eat/drink? (not What will youlike to eat/drink?)

Have and have got; have and take

Sometimes we can use either have or have got when we talkabout possession, relationships, and similar meanings. Usingis often more formal:

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She has a house in Italy. Or She’s got a house in Italy. The President has a lot of support for her actions. Or

The president has got a lot… I don’t have anything on this weekend, or I haven’t got

anything on this weekend. Or haven’t got anything onthis weekend. Both are more natural than haven’tanything.

Does bird watching have a hyphen or not? Or Has birdwatching got hyphen, or not? (Both are more natural than‘Has’bird watching a hyphen…?)

We use have, not have got, in to-infinitive or –ing forms,and after modal verbs:

Dou you want to have a drink? I find having no car very inconvenient. She won’t have that old bike for much longer. She’s

getting a new one

Notice that we don’t use have got in short anwers:

Have we got any biscuits left? ‘Yes, we have. In thecupboard.’

We use have rather than have got when we talk about thefuture or the past. Compare:

I have time to do the work now. (or I’ve got time… ) and I will have time to do the work tomorrow. (not I will

have got time… ) She has a racing bike. (or She’s got a racing bike) and She had a racing bike when she was a teenager. (rather

than She had got… )We also say used to have not ‘used To have got’

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Notice, however, that when have got is the perfect form ofget meaning ‘OBTAIN’ or ‘RECEIVE’, we can use it toinfinitive or –ing forms, after modal verbs, and in the pastand future. We can sometimes use have instead of have gotwith a similar meaning:

I’m very pleased to have got a place on the course. (or…to have a place…)

I could have got much more for the painting if I’d soldit overseas. (not… could have…)

He asked me where I had got my jacket from. (rather than…where I had my jacket…)

I hope you will have got your marks by tomorrow. (or …you will have your marks… )

Have and take

We can use have + noun to describe an action. Compare:

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Polite Requests with “I” as the subject

May I, could I

a)May I borrow your book?

May I and could I are used to request permission. They areequally polite .

In polite requests, could has a present or future meaning,not a past meaning

b)Can I borrow your book?

Can I used informally to request permission, especially ifthe speaker is talking to somenone he / she nows fairly well.Can I is usually considered a little less polite than may Ior could I.

Often the response to a polite request is an action, such asa nod or shake of head.

Might is also possible: Might I borrow your pen? Might I isquite formal and polite; it is used much less frequently thanmay I or could I.

Polite requests with “you” as the subject

a) Would you pass me the book (please)?

b) Would you please pass me the book?

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The meaning of could you and will you in polite request is thesame. Would you is more common and is considered more polite.The degree of politeness, however, is often determined by thespeaker tone of voice.

c) Could you pass me the book (please)?

Basically, could you and would you have the same meaning. Thedifference is slight:

Would you= do you want to do this? Could you= do you want to do this please, and it is

possible for you to do this? Could you and would you are equally polite.

d) Can you please pass me the book?

Can you is often used informally. It usually sounds lesspolite than could you and would you.

Responses:

Yes I’d be happy to/ be glad to. Certainly. Sure. A personusually responds in the affirmative to a polite request. If anegative response is necessary, a person might begin bysaying “I’d like to, but…” (e.g., “I’d like to pass the salt,but can’t reach it”.

Polite requests with would you mind

a)Would you mind if I closed the window?

b)Would you mind if I used the phone?

Would you mind if I is followed by the simple past. Themeaning in (a): May I close the window? Will it cause you anytrouble or discomfort if I close the window?

Typical responses.

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No, not at all/of course not. No, that would be fine.

Asking someone to do something.

c) Excuse me. Would you mind repeating that?

Notice in c) : Would you mind is often followed by –ing (agerund). The meaning in c): I don’t want to cause you anytrouble, but would you please close the window? Would thatcause you any inconvenience?

Responses

No, I’d be happy to. Not at all. I’d be glad to.Sure/Okay.(informal)

The informal responses of “Sure” and “Okay” are common butare not logical: the speaker means “No, I wouldn’t mind” butseems to be saying “Yes, I would mind”. Native speakersunderstand that the response “Sure” or “Okay” in thissituation means that the speaker agrees to the request.

Expressing necessity: must, have to, have got to

a)All applicants must take an entrance exam

b)All applicants have to take an entrance exam

Must and have to both express necessity.

In (a) and (b): It is necessary for every applicant to takean entrance exam. There is no other choice. The exam isrequired.

(c) I’m looking for Sue. I have to talk to her about ourlunch date tomorrow. I can’t meet her for lunch because Ihave to go to a business meeting at 12:00

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(d) Where’s Sue? I must talk to her right away, I have andurgent message for her

In everyday statements of necessity, have to is used morecommonly than must. Must is usually stronger than have to andcan indicate urgency or stress importance. In (c) The speakeris simply saying, “I need to do this, and I need to do that”In (d): The speaker is strongly saying “This is veryimportant!”

I have to be home by eight.

He has to go to a meeting tonight

Have is usually pronounced “hafta”, has to I usuallypronounced “hasta”.

(g) I have got to go now. I have a class in ten minutes.

(h) I have to go now. I have a class in ten minutes.

Have got also express the idea of necessity: (g) and (h) havethe same meaning. Have got is informal and is used primarilyin spoken English. Have to is used is used in both formal andinformal English.

I have got to go (“I’ve gotta go/ I gotta go”)now.

Usual pronunciation of got to is “gotta”. Sometimes have isdropped in speech: “I gotta do it”.

Present or future

I have/have got/must study tonight.

I had to study last night.

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The idea of past necessity is expressed by had to. There isno other past form for must (when it means necessity) or havegot to.

Lack of necessity and prohibition: Have to and must in thenegative.

Lack of necessity

a) Tomorrow is a holiday. We don’t have to go to class.b) I can hear you. You don’t have to shout.

When used in negative, must and have to have differentmeanings.

Do not have to= lack of necessity

In (a): It is not necessary for us to go to class tomorrowbecause it is holiday.

Prohibition

(c) You must not look in the closet. Your birthday present ishidden there.

(d)You must not tell anyone my secret. Dou you promise?

Must not= prohibition (do not do this!)

In (c): Do not look in the closet. I forbid it. Looking inthe closet is prohibited.

Negative contraction: mustn’t. (The first “t” is silent;“muss-ent”.)

I ought to (“otta”)study tonight, but I think I’ll watch TVinstead.

Ought to is often pronounced “otta” in informal speaking.

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e) The gas tank is almost empty. We had better stop at thenext service station.

f) You had better take care of that cut on your hand soon, orit will get infected.

In meaning, had better is close to should/ought to, but hadbetter is usually stronger. Often had better implies awarning or a threat of possible bad consequences. In (e): I fwe don’t stop at a service station, there will be a badresult. We will run out of gas.

Notes on the use of had better:

It has a present or future meaning. It is followed by the simple form of a verb. It is more common in speaking than writing.

(g)You’d better take care of it.

(h)You better take care of it.

Contraction: ‘d better, as in (g).

Sometimes in speaking, had is dropped, as in (h).

(i)You’d better not be late

Negative form: had beter+not

Ought to is not commonly used in the negative. If it is usedin the negative, the to is sometimes dropped: You oughtn’t(to) leave your keys in the car.

The past form of should

(a) I had a testthis morning. I didn’t do well on the test because Ididn’t study for it last night.

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(b) You weresupposed to be here at 10 P.M. but you didn’t come untilmidnight. We were worried about you. You should havecalled us. (You did not call.)

(c) My back hurts.I should not have carried that heavy box up two flightsof stairs. (I carried the box and now I’m sorry).

(d) We went to amovie, but it was a waste of time and money. We shouldnot have gone to the movie.

In (c): I should not have carried means that I carriedsomething, but it turned out to be a bad idea. I made amistake.

The past form of ought to I ought to have + past participle.(I ought to have studied) It has the same meaning as the pastform of should. In the past, should is more commonly thanought to. Had better is used only rarely in a past form.(e.g. He had better have taken care of it) and usually onlyin speaking, not writing.

Expectations: Be supposed to

(a) The game issupposed to begin at 10:00

(b) The comitee issupposed to vote by secret ballot.

Be supposed to expresses the idea that someone (I, we, they,the teacher, lots of people, my father, etc.) expectssomething to happen. Be supposed to often expressesexpectations about scheduled events, as in (a), or correctprocedures, as in (b).

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(c) I am supposedto go to the meeting. My boss told me that he wants meto attend.

(d) The childrenare supposed to put away their toys before they go tobed.Be supposed to also expresses expectations aboutbehaviour. In (c) and (d): be supposed gives the ideathe idea that someone else expects (request or requires)certain behaviour.

(e)Jack was supposed to call me last night. I wonder whyhe didn’t.

Be supposed in the past (was/were supposed to) expressesunfulfilled expectations. In (e): The speaker expectedJack to call, but he didn’t.

Making suggestions: Let’s, Why don’t, Shall I/We

(a)Let´s go to a movie.(b)Let’s not go to a movie.Let’s stay home instead.

Let’s= let us. Let’s is followed by the simple form of averb. Negative form

(c)Why don’t we go to a movie?(d)Why don’t you come around seven?(e)Why don’t I give Mary a call?

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(f)Shall I open the window? Is that okay with you?(g)Shall we leave at two? Is that okay?(h) Let’s go, shall we?(i)Let’s go, okay?

Let’s= Let us. Let’s is followed by the simple form of averb. Negative form: let’s + not + simple verb

The meaning of let’s: “I have a suggestion for us.”

Why don’t is used primarily in spoken English to make afriendly suggestion.

In (c): Why don’t we go= let’s go.

In (d): I suggest that you come around seven.

In (e):Should I give Mary a call? Do you agree with mysuggestion?

When shall is used with I or we in a question, the speaker isusually making a suggestion and asking another person if s/heagrees with this suggestion. This use of shall is relativelyformal and infrequent.

Sometimes “shall we”? is used as a tag question after let’s,as in (h). More informally, “okay”? is used as a tagquestion, as in(i).

Making suggestions: Could vs. Should

What should we do tomorrow?

(a) Why don’t we goon picnic?

(b) We could go ona picnic.

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Could can be used to make suggestions. (a) and (b) aresimilar in meaning: the speaker is suggesting a picnic

I’m having trouble in math class.

(c) You should talkto your teacher.

(d) Maybe youshould talk to your teacher.

I’m having trouble in my math class.

Definition of a verb

A verb has been defined as a word stating something about asubject. Verbs are inflected or changed to indicate the timeof the action as past, or future; as, I talk, I talked, Ishall talk, etc. To these variations, which indicate theaction, the name tense is given.

Progressive forms of modals

(a)Let’s just knock on the door lightly. Tom may be sleeping.(right now)

(b)All of the lights in Ann’s room are turned off. She mustbe sleeping. (right now)

c)Sue wasn’t at home last night when we went to visit her.She might have been studying at the library.

d)Joe wasn’t at home last night. He has a lot of exams comingup soon, and he is also working on a term paper. He must havebeen studying at the library.

Progressive form, present time: modal + be + -ing

Meaning: In progress at a time in the past.

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Example:

1. Alex has a test tomorrow that he needs to study for. Heshouldn’t be watching TV right now.

2. There’s Tom. He’s standing at the bus stop. He must bewaiting for the two o’clock bus.

Expressing preference: would rather

(a) I would rathergo to a movie tonight than study grammar.

(b) I rather studyhistory than (study) biology.

Would rather expresses preference. In (a): Notice the simpleform of a verb follows both would rather and than.

How much do you weight?

(c) I’d rather nottell you

Contraction: I would= I’d

Negative form: would rather + not

(d) The movie wasokay, but I would rather have gone to the concert lastnight.

The past form: Would rather have + past participle

(e) I’d rather belying on a beach in India than sitting in class rightnow.

Progressive form: would rather + be + -ing

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Combining modals with phrasal modals

(a) Incorrect:Janet will can help you tomorrow.

A modal cannot be immediately followed by another modal. In(a): The modal will cannot be followed by can, which isanother modal.

(b) Correct: Janetwill be able to help you tomorrow.

A modal can, however, be followed by the phrasal modals beable to and have to. In (b): The modal will is correctlyfollowed by the phrasal modal be able to.

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CONCLUSIONS:

Whether we know all the uses of the auxiliary verbs (modals)or we just use them as simple requests, in our research wehave outlined every single use possible for them, we haveshowed that with its use we also get to now its forms withtenses present, past and future, we know that to exert amodal we have to follow the criteria telling us precisely theway of the modal, if its formal permission, polite request,advisability, certainty, advisability with threat of badresult and so on. So we conclude that modals are preciselythat part in the sentence that are auxiliaries, that partthat tells something about the subject that is the parttelling the way in which the subject performs the action butdetailing in which way the verb is performed and how it isperformed, according to the position of the subject. Themodals are not the verbs, the auxiliaries go before the mainverb of the sentence, so it is just like a mode of how theverb is executed, and indicate mode. It can be fixed as averb just like in the case of can, and have which are alsoverbs, but represent modals too, not the same as in shouldand would who are pure expressions of mode but don’t indicateactions themselves. Modals and in general are semanticexpressions that give an idea of a main action, so in thiscontext we have the verb that gives semantic or syntacticinformation and the main verb that tells the performance ofthe subject.

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Bibliography:

Grammar Troublespots.

Third Edition.

Ann Raimes.

Cambridge University Press 2004.

Advanced Grammar in Use.

Seven printing.

Marthin Hewings.

Cambidge University Press 1999.

Understanding and Using English Grammar.

Third Edition.

Betty Schampher Azar57

Longman-Pearson Education 1999.

English Grammar for Today.

Geoffrey Leech.

Margaret Deuchar.

Robert Hoogenrad.

Macmillan 1982

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A P P E N D I X

Auxiliary USE Present/Future PastMay (1)polite requests May I borrow

your pen?(2)Formal permission You may leave

the room(3)less than 50% certainty

He may be at thelibrary

He may have beenat the library

might (1)less than 50% certainty

He might be at the library.

He might be at the library

(2)Polite request (rate)

Might I borrow your pen?

Should (1)Advisability I should study tonight

I should have studied last night, but I didn’t

(2 )90 certainty

(expectation)

She should do well on the test(future only, not present)

She should have done well on thetest.

Ought to (1) advisability I ought to studytonight.

(2) 90% certainty (expectation)

She ought to do well on the test(future only, not present)

She ought to have done well on the test.

Had better

(1) Advisabilitywith threat of badresult

You had better be on time, or we will leave without you.

(past form uncommon)

be supposed

(1) Expectation Class I supposedto begin at

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to 10:00.(2) Unfulfilled

expectationClass was supposed to begin at 10:00, but it didn’t begin until 10:15.

must (1) strong necessity

I must go to class today.

(I had to go to class yesterday)

(2)Prohibition(negative)

You must not open thatdoor.

(3)95% certainty Mary isn’t in class. She must be sick. (present only)

Mary must have been sick yesterday.

have to (1) necessity I have to go to class today.

I had to go to class yesterday.

(2) lack of necessity

(negative)

I don´t have to go class today.

I didn’t haveto go to classyesterday.

have gotto

(1) necessity I have got to go to class today.

I didn’t have to go to classyesterday.

Will (1) 100% certainty

He will be here at 6:00.(future only)

(2)Willingness -The phone’s ringingI’ll get it.

(3)polite request

Will you please pass the salt?

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AUXILIARY USES PRESENT/FUTURE PAST(1) 100%

certainty(predicition)

He is going tobe heHere at six.(future only)

(2) Definite Plan(intention)

I’m going to paint my bedroom. (future only)

(3) Unfulfilled intention

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HOJA DE APROBACION

Nota de aprobación y observaciones

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Aprobado por el director académico Tesista

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