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UNIT 5: VERY IMPORTANT MEMBER
THEORY
MODALS
“Modals” are the “small” verbs like CAN, MUST and MIGHT, which give certain meaning to
main verbs.
FORM
There are twelve modal verbs:
Can, shall, must, could, should, ought to, may, will, need (to), might, would, dare
Positive is formed by putting the modal between the subject and the main verb:
We should stay
Negative is formed by adding NOT or N´T after the modal:
We shouldn´t stay
Questions are formed by changing the position of the modal and the subject:
Should we stay?
Negative questions generally use N´T. if NOT is used, there is a different order:
Should we not stay?
CAN, COULD
CAN means:
a) Know how to, be able to: I can swim
b) Be allowed to: you can sit there
COULD is the past of CAN
I couldn´t go to work this morning
CAN and COULD are used in request. COULD is more polite:
Can I have a glass of water, please?
Could you open the window for me, please?
CAN, COULD, BE ABLE TO
BE ABLE TO is used instead of CAN in the future, and sometimes also in the present and the
past: