Some express very specific conditions that don’t come up often, like dare, for example, “I dare say.” The phrase used to, as in “I used to be an English student, too,” also behaves like a modal verb. Some modal verbs are outdated and rarely used-like shall and ought to -while others are more colloquial-such as got to, need to, or have to. There are more modal verbs, although the ones above are the most common. Modal verbs are quite common in English, and you’ve probably seen them hundreds of times without actually knowing their name. The speaker does not swim every Tuesday they’re saying they are capable of swimming every Tuesday if they need to. The second example uses the modal verb can. The speaker participates in a swimming activity every week on Tuesdays. The first example is a simple factual statement. (A modal verb should only appear alone if it’s clear from context what the main verb is.)Ĭonsider the difference between these two examples: Because they’re auxiliary verbs, they can’t necessarily be used on their own. They’re used alongside a main verb to change its meaning slightly. Modal verbs are used to express certain hypothetical conditions, such as advice, capability, or requests (there’s a full list in the next section). Write with Grammarly What are modal verbs?
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