Subtitles section Play video
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Hi, I'm Stephanie.
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Welcome to Oxford Online English!
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In this lesson, you can learn about English modal verbs.
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What are modal verbs?
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What do they do?
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Why do you need them?
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You'll see answers to all these questions in this class.
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Before we start, you should check out our website: Oxford Online English dot com.
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You can find all our free English lessons.
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We also offer online classes with professional teachers, where you can study speaking, prepare
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for IELTS, improve your pronunciation, or whatever else you want!
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Let's get back to our topic with some basic points you should know to use modal verbs
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correctly.
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Shall we start?
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Yeah, we probably should!
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So, can you tell me something about modal verbs?
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Sure.
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What would you like to know?
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I must know everything about them!
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That might take a long time!
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You'll help me, though, right?
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Of course, even though it may be challenging.
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There are nine modal verbs in English.
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You just heard a dialogue with nine lines.
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Each line contains one modal verb.
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Can you name the nine modal verbs in English?
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Maybe you know them already, but if not, you can go back and try to find them in the dialogue.
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The nine modal verbs are: can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should and must.
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What do modal verbs do, and how are they different from other verbs?
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Also, why are they so important?
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Modal verbs add information to other verbs.
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That's their job.
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They can add ideas like possibility, uncertainty, or obligation to another verb.
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Grammatically, modal verbs follow their own rules.
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Let's see what this means.
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Rule number one: a modal verb is followed by an infinitive verb, without 'to'.
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For example: 'She can speak fluent Spanish.'
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'We shouldn't do anything until we know more.'
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'They won't be here before ten.'
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You can't put a noun after a modal verb, or an -ing verb, or anything else, only an
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infinitive verb without 'to'.
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Rule number two: modal verbs can't be used in different times or tenses.
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Modal verbs don't have past, perfect or future tenses like regular verbs do.
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There are some cases where this isn't 100% true.
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For example, 'could' is the past tense of 'can' in some cases.
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'Would' sometimes acts like a past version of 'will'.
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However, 'could' can also have a present or future meaning.
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It's better to think about each modal verb individually.
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Rule number three: modal verbs are *auxiliary* verbs.
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That means you make negatives by adding 'not' to the end of the verb.
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For example: can, can't.
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Would, wouldn't.
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Might, might not.
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Negative modal verbs are often contracted, although 'might not' and 'may not'
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are usually written fully, without contractions.
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For 'will' and 'shall', the spelling changes in the negative: will, won't; shall,
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shan't.
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To make a question, move the modal verb before the subject.
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For example: 'Should I tell him?'
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'What would you do?'
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What about the other question: why are modal verbs important?
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Modal verbs can express many basic concepts which you will need regularly, in any situation.
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Modal verbs are used to express obligation, give advice, talk about possibility and probability,
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ask for permission, and more.
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Next, let's look at the meanings which modal verbs can express in more detail.
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Can I ask you something?
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Sure.
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I'm thinking I might ask for a transfer to the Singapore office.
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I've always wanted to live abroad, and I think now's the right time.
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What do you think?
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I think if you've thought about it, then you should try it.
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Better to regret something you did than something you didn't do; that's my view.
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Hmm…
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Will they agree, though?
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You don't know till you ask!
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Anyway, I'm sure they'll agree; you have a good track record here, and if you come
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back later you'll have a lot of valuable experience.
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So, they should say yes.
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I'm just worried, because I know that Olga asked for a transfer to Canada, and they wouldn't
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let her…
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That's a totally different situation.
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Olga's a tax specialist; she's irreplaceable.
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I wanted to ask one more thing: will you write a reference for me?
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No problem!
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I'd be happy to.
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There's one more thing you must do before you apply.
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What's that?
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Talk to the Singapore office.
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I can put you in contact if you need.
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That's great!
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Thanks so much for helping me out.
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You can use modal verbs to express nine fundamental ideas.
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Maybe you're thinking: “That's nice and easy!
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There are nine modal verbs, and nine meanings, so each verb must have one meaning, right?”
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Nope!
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Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that.
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First, the nine meanings are broad.
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Each contains several smaller ideas.
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Secondly, every modal verb can have more than one meaning.
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Anyway, we'll worry about that later!
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For now, let's look at the nine fundamental ideas which modal verbs can express.
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Asking permission.
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Expressing possibility or impossibility, when you think something could be true or not.
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Giving advice or suggestions.
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Expressing certainty or uncertainty, when you're sure something is true or not.
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Expressing probability, when you think one result is more likely than another
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Expressing willingness or refusal, for example when someone lets or doesn't let someone
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else do something.
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Making a request or an offer.
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Expressing an obligation, when it's necessary to do something.
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Expressing ability, when someone has the capacity to do something, or not.
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In the dialogue, there's at least one example of each of these nine basic meanings.
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Can you find them?
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If you want a challenge, go back and listen to the dialogue again.
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Try to find one sentence with a modal verb which expresses each of the nine basic meanings.
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Let's look together.
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Here are nine sentences from the dialogue.
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The first sentence is asking permission.
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You use 'can' to ask 'Is this OK?'
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Sentence two is talking about possibility.
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You're saying that something is possible, but not certain.
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The third sentence is giving advice.
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Number four is expressing certainty.
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You're sure that something is true now, or that something will happen in the future.
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In case you're wondering, possibility and certainty are closely related.
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We're separating them, but you could also see them as two sides of the same idea.
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However, probability, as in sentence five, is different.
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Here's a question: what's the difference between probability and possibility?
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Probability has different levels.
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Something can be 90% probable, or 50% or 20%, or whatever.
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Possibility is binary: either something is possible, or it isn't.
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It doesn't make sense to say that something is 50% possible.
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This might sound abstract, but it's relevant to using modal verbs.
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Here, 'should' expresses probability.
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The sentence 'They should say yes' means that it's more likely they'll say 'yes'
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than 'no'.
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The sixth sentence expresses refusal.
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'Wouldn't' here has a similar meaning to 'refused to'.
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Number seven is a request, when you ask someone to do something for you.
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The eighth sentence expresses an obligation.
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'Must' here means that it's necessary to do something.
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Finally, the ninth sentence expresses ability.
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So, there's a lot of information here!
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What should you take away?
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Let's look at two key points.
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First, not every modal verb was used in these nine sentences.
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There's no 'could', no 'shall' and no 'may'.
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What does this tell you?
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It shows you what we told you before: every modal verb can have more than one meaning.
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Also, it shows you that every idea, like obligation, certainty, and so on, can be expressed by
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more than one modal verb.
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Let's look at this point in more detail.
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Can you look at something for me?
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Sure.
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What's up?
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It's my laptop.
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It's acting weirdly.
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I know you're good with these things, so…
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What's the problem exactly?
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It keeps freezing, and I can't do anything for a while.
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Sometimes it's just a few seconds, but sometimes it goes on for half an hour.
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It's really annoying!
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Older laptops can get like that sometimes.
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But I only bought it six months ago!
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Do you have an antivirus program?
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Yes, and I do scans regularly.
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It can't be a virus.
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I'm not so good with technology, but I am pretty security conscious.
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Hmm…
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That's probably not the problem, then.
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Can I take it for an hour or so?
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I'll need your login password, too.
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That way I can take a proper look.
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OK, here.
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Thank you so much!
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In this dialogue, there were five different sentences using the modal verb 'can'.
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Do you remember them?
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Here they are.
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In each sentence, 'can' has a different meaning.
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Think about the nine basic meanings of modal verbs, which you saw in section two.
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Can you explain the meaning of 'can' in each of these sentences?
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Can you see how they're different?
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'Can you look at something for me?' is a request.
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'I can't do anything for a while' expresses ability.
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'Older laptops can get like that sometimes' expresses a general possibility.
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It's like saying 'It's common for older laptops to get like that.'
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'It can't be a virus' expresses certainty.
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It's like saying 'I'm sure it isn't a virus.'
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'Can I take it for an hour or so?' is asking permission to do something.
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This is just one modal verb.
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'Can' is an extreme example, because most modal verbs don't have five different meanings.
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Actually, 'can' has a sixth meaning—it can be used to make an offer, as in 'Can
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I help you with anything?'
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However, every modal verb has at least two different meanings, and most have three or
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four.
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So, what's the point here?
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Point one: *really* don't try to understand modal verbs by translating them into your
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language.
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Of course, this is true generally, but it's especially important with modal verbs, because
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they don't translate cleanly between languages.
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If you think that 'can' in English translates to one verb in your language, you'll create
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problems for yourself.
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Point two: to understand a modal verb in a sentence, you need to understand the context.
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Again, this is general advice, but again it's especially important with modal verbs.
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The meaning of a modal verb can be completely different in different contexts.
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Point three: the different meanings of a modal verb are unconnected.
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Look at two sentences with 'must': 'It must be late—it's dark outside.'
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'You must read this article.
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It's so interesting!'
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What does 'must' mean in these two sentences?
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In the first sentence, 'must' expresses certainty.
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You're saying 'I'm sure it's late, because it's dark outside.'
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In the second sentence, 'must' expresses strong advice.
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Most English learners will first learn 'must' to express obligation, in sentences like 'Employees
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must keep records of all expenses.'
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Often, they'll think about 'must' by translating it into their language.
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Then, when they see the word 'must', they think about the verb in their language.
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If you do this, you might think that other meanings of 'must' are somehow connected
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to the idea of obligation, or whatever you learned first.
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But, there's no connection.
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It's just coincidence that you use the word 'must' in these three sentences.
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The meaning is completely different in each case.
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There's no connection except that the word is the same.
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Now, let's look at one more thing you should know about modal verbs.
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What time are we supposed to be there?
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Ten, I think, but I think we ought to aim to arrive at least fifteen minutes before.
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So, that means we have to leave here at… what?
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Nine?
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We'd better leave earlier, I think.
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There's a metro strike tomorrow, so the traffic will be terrible.
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Are we going to drive, or take a taxi?
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I'm not sure we'll be able to find a taxi, so I think driving is best.
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In the dialogue, you heard several examples of semi-modal verbs.
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Do you know what these are?
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Here are the sentences you heard.
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So, what are semi-modal verbs?
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Semi-modals have some of the features of modal verbs, but not all.
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Most importantly, semi-modal verbs do the same thing as modal verbs.
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They add information to other verbs.
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They can express many of the same ideas, like obligation or giving advice.
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They don't follow all the grammar rules of regular modal verbs.
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For example, 'have to' is a semi-modal, and you can use it in different tenses: it
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has a past tense, 'had to'; you can use it in the present perfect, 'I have had to…'
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and so on.
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Often, modals and semi-modals can be used with the same meaning.
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Look at two sentences: 'It'll rain this afternoon.'
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'It's going to rain this afternoon.'
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Here, you use 'going to', which is a semi-modal, to express certainty, in the same way that
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you can use 'will'.
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It doesn