Modals of Possibility and Ability

Modals of Possibility and Ability

Characteristics

• Modals have the same forms for all the grammatical persons , but for have to and be able to;e.g. Rose can speak Russian, Rose thinks she is able to fly, Rose has to finish before noon.
• Modals only have present, past and perfect forms, e.g. She could ran a mile. She can run a mile , She could have run a mile.
• Modals do not need an auxiliary to create the interrogative form, e.g. Can you speak English?
• Modals add an extra meaning of modality to the sentence they are in; e.g. possibility, ability, permission, prohibition, etc.

Use and Meaning

May, Can and Could are used to convey permission as well as possibility, as can be seen in the examples Can/May/ Could I open the door? Might can also be used to ask for permission or make a suggestion in a polite way, e.g. Might I ask your name? or Might I suggest a dessert? Be able to and Can / Could are commonly used to convey abilty , e.g. I Phil is able to swim for an hour. Phil can run for miles. Mike could speak Galician when he was a child. Besides, all the above mentioned modal verbs are also used to express different ranges of possibility. Thus, from the most possible "modal" to the least possible modal, these verbs can be arranged as follows: may - can, be able to, might - could. They may be at home now. It can be very cold during winter. They might be at home now. I could have a break after the meaning. She wasn't able to have a break after the meeting.

Extra Practice

Further Information