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THE USE OF MODALS

WILL

Will expresses simple future with second and third person :

Summer will come and days will be hot.
During February flowers will bloom in all their glory.
You will write a letter.
Will/shall is not used in clauses beginning with if:
If I go to Bombay, I’ll bring a gift for you.
If it rains heavily, we’ll not go to school.

Will is used with the first person if it conveys a threat, a promise, a determination and an

intention:

I will break your head.
I will lend you some money
All students will take part in sports.
We will do or die.
I will teach him lesson.

To express a request/invitation or order in yes/no questions with ‘you’ as a subject:

Will you do me a favour?
Will you come to tea tomorrow?
To express general facts:
Oil will float on water.
The sun will rise in the east.
To express probability:
You will come here as usual.
The teacher will not praise you for such sloppy work.

SHALL

Shall with first person is used simply to express simple future tense, but it is possible only in case

of assertive sentences:

I shall visit your place.
We shall meet again.
Shall is used with second / third persons, (i.e. You, your, he ,she ,it Sohan) if it conveys the
sense of threat, promise, determination, and intention :
You shall pay for breaking the window.
He shall be rewarded if he remains patient.
You shall do what I command.
You Shall have to take action against him.

To express suggestion (in yes/no questions with ‘we’ as subject):

Shall we start on foot?
Shall we play at cards?
Volition/will of the listener:
(In yes/no questions with ‘I; as subject)
Shall I come tomorrow?
Shall I make some tea for you?

WOULD

Would is the past tense of will and it is used in the following ways :

As the future tense of past in the indirect speech:

He told me that he would go.
He said that he would tell a lie.
To express Past Habit:
She would go out for a walk daily.
My grandmother would always bring sweets for us.
To express Condition.
I would help you if you promise to be honest in your dealings.
To express Suggestion:
They would like to sleep in the afternoon.
Would you care to see the Principal.
To express Polite Request:
Would you take a cup of tea ?
Would you please post this letter?
To express Determination:
I would stand by him in any trouble.
I would give up smoking.
To express Wish or Desire:
Would that I were rich !
I wish he would stand first !
I wish it would stop raining !
I would like to spend some moment in her company.
To express Preference:
He would rather die than beg.
Gopal would rather read a novel than a book of Philosophy.
To express Unreal Condition:
Had you worked hard, you would have passed.
If he had run fast, he would have won the race.

SHOULD

Should is the past tense (past form) of shall. It is used in the following ways :

To express the Future in the past tense:
I told him that I should do the work the next day.
He said that you should report for duty on Friday.
To make conditional Sentences:
Should it rain, we shall not go to school.
Should you speak the truth, I shall pardon you.
To express Advice or Suggestion:
It was decided that no one should oppose Mahajan in the election.
She should not go out bare foot.
To express Duty or Obligation:
You should serve your country.
We should solve these sums.
To express ‘Request’:
He should like to say that Sunil has not done this mischief.
To express Surprise:
It is very surprising that they should lose the match.
To express tentative use (meaning ‘in case’):
Should he give up smoking, he can hope to win her over.
Should they work hard, they will pass.
To express purpose/ condition:
Walk fast lest you should miss the train.
I should be glad to meet him.
The word “lest “is always followed by should
Work hard lest u should fail.
CAN
To express ability:
She can lift that box.
I can drive that car.
We can write Kashmiri or Dogri.
He can climb that tree.
To express permission:
You can sleep in that room, if you want to.
He can go home, if he is tired.
The teacher says that we can play on the field.
To express possibility:
You can swim in the stream.
You can spend a week in Paris.

COULD

Could is used in five ways, one of them in combination with the Present Prefect tense

To express ability in the past:
I could swim across this river when I was young.
He could smell something burning.
To express permission:
The Principal said that the students could go home after the examination.
Do you think we could close the office early ?
To express possibility:
Could such a thing happen, I wondered.
The murderer could be anywhere by now.
You could walk miles in the countryside without seeing a car.
To introduce a request:
Could you go with your brother to the hospital ?
Couldn’t you come a little earlier ?
Could I pick a dozen roses from the garden ?
Could with the Present Perfect Tense:
This can indicate a possibility in the past :
I could have helped my friend yesterday.
You could have arrived earlier if you wanted.
She could have cooked the chicken much better.

MAY

To express permission

You may look up the dictionary if you want to.
That boy may work in the laboratory, as a special case.
You may go home.

To express possibility.

It may rain all afternoon.
The new medicine may relieve your pain.

To introduce a request.

May I open the window ?
May I borrow your book for a while ?

MIGHT

Might can be used like ‘may’ to convey permission or possibility.

To express possibility.

She might come again tomorrow..
This pill might cure your headache.

To express permission or request for permission.

The clerk asked if he might leave the office an hour early.
Might I make a suggestion?

To express command.

You might make less noise.
You might post these letters for me.
Might and may with Present Perfect Infinitives.
Your friend may have forgotten to write to you.
He might have regained consciousness before he died.

Purpose

They died that we might live.

MUST

Must is used to denote:
Advice - You must consult some good doctor.
You must work hard this year.
Compulsion/Necessity - You must be back by evening.
The students must bring their books daily.
Probability - The child must be hungry.
He must have made some big mistake.
Obligation - You must do as you are told.
He must clear his accounts before leaving
Must can be used in Affirmative and Interrogative sentences, but in Negative sentences the opposite of must
(need not) is used.
Must she come tomorrow?
Yes, she must.
No, she needn’t.
Must can be replaced by has to/ have to.
He must go now.
He has to go now.
You must obey your officer.
You have to obey your officer.
Must not can be replaced by is not to.
He must not go there.
He is not to go there.

5. Remember the following table for the various changes in the forms of must and need according to

their tenses.

Present Past Future

1. He must go. He had to go. He must go.
2. He must not go. He was not to go. He must not go.
3. He need not go. He need not have gone. He need not go.

OUGHT to & USED to

Ought to – should
Ought is always followed by to.
Ought to (like Should) is used to denote –
Moral Duty - You ought to respect your elders.
You ought to have helped the poor.
Probability - Mohan ought to win the race this time.
You have worked hard. You ought to get good marks.
Something Desirable - He ought to build a new house now.
There ought to be some more buses.
In all the sentences given above, ‘should’ can be used in place of ‘ought to’.

‘Used’ is modal auxiliary which (like ‘ought’) is always followed by ‘to’.

He used to live here.
He never used to live here.
Used he to live here?
‘Used to’ indicates some constant or frequent practice in the past.
Used to + V1 = V2’ Used to +v1+ing
1. He used to come to my house every
evening.
2. She never used to tell a lie.
3. They used to consult me on all
Matters
4 He got used to driving on the right
1. He came to my house every
evening.
2. She never told a lie
3. They consulted me on all matters

RULE If verb comes after used to then

when he was in London
5 He is used to telling lies and it has
become his second habbit.
it is followed by v1+ing and it denotes
here a routine action of past and it can
be in any tense here.

NEED

‘Need’ is used :

As an auxiliary, ‘Need’ should be used only in Negative and Interrogative sentences.

‘Need not’ (needn’t) is used to express the absence of obligation or necessity to do something
In interrogative sentences ‘need’ is used to indicate some doubt or prohibition.
Need you go yet? No, you needn’t.
Need she come tomorrow? No, she needn’t.
The Third Person Singular of ‘need’ is always need, and not needs.
He need not worry any more.
In interrogative sentences ‘need’ is used only if a negative answer is desired.
Need you go there?
No, I needn’t.
In negative and interrogative sentences ‘need’ is never followed by ‘to’.
Need he do any work?
No, he needn’t do any work.
But in the following simple sentences ‘need’ is followed by ‘to’
1. He need to go now.
2. He does not need to go now.
3. Does he need to go now?
If you study the given sentences carefully, you will find that here ‘need’ has been used as a
Principal verb and not as an auxiliary.
. We can use hasn’t +v3+ go to, don’t have to, don’t need to in place of ‘need not’.
He need not go.
He has not got to go.
He does not have to go.
He does not need to go.
When ‘need’ is preceded by ‘must’, it becomes an Adverb.
In fact, ‘needs’ is a Possessive Case in which the apostrophe (‘) is omitted. Thus – needs = need’s
= of need = of necessity = necessarily (adv.)
Now we see how ‘needs’ has come to be considered an Adverb.