Modal verbs in past

Modal verbs in past

Ability

Was able to We use it to talk about something that happened on one specific past action.

Could We use it to talk about a person's ability in the past.

Couldn't It is possible to use couldn't in both cases (general ability and specific situation)

Certainty / Uncertainty

Can't / couldn't have We use it to make deductions about the past. We use can't / couldn't have when we are sure something is NOT true in the past.

Must have We use it to make deductions about the past. We use must have when we are sure that something was true in the past.

May have / Might have / Could have We use may have, might have or could have to express possibility or uncertainty in the past.

Criticism & Expectation

Should have / Shouldn't have We use should have / shouldn't have to express criticism when we think a mistake was made. We also use it to talk about things that we were expecting to happen.

Hypothetical past

Would have We use would have to talk about hypothetical situations in the past. We imagine the alternative results if we had made different choices or done things differently.

And now, some videos to help you:

The last part of this video includes a really nice explanation on the pronunciation of modal verbs in speaking. Pay extra attention to that part and practice the pronunciation. "Arnel's Everyday English" is a very interesting youtube channel, if you liked this video you should check out her channel and her other videos.

Another great video:

"Oxford Online English" is one of my favorite youtube channels to find information about English Grammar. If you like this video you should try some other videos from their channel. I love the way they use dialogues to introduce their examples.

Now, go try the exercises in Google Classroom