Modal verbs
Plan:
1.
English modal verbs
The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to
express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.).
[1]
They can be
distinguished
from
other
verbs
by
their defectiveness (they
do
not
have participle or infinitive forms) and by their neutralization
[2]
(that they do not
take the ending
-(e)s
in the third-person singular).
The
principal English
modal
verbs are
can
,
could
,
may
,
might
,
shall
,
should
,
will
,
would
, and
must
. Certain other
verbs are
sometimes classed as modals; these include
ought
,
had better
, and (in
certain uses)
dare
and
need
. Verbs which share only some of the characteristics of
the principal modals are sometimes called "quasi-modals", "semi-modals", or
"pseudo-modals"
The verbs customarily classed as modals in English have the following properties:
They do not inflect (in the modern language) except insofar as some of them
come in present–past (present–preterite) pairs. They do not add the ending
-
(e)s
in the third-person singular (the present-tense modals therefore follow
the preterite-present paradigm).
[a]
They are defective: they are not used as infinitives or participles (except
occasionally in non-standard English; see § Double modals below), nor
as imperatives, nor (in the standard way) as subjunctives.
They function as auxiliary verbs: they modify
the modality of another verb,
which they govern. This verb generally appears as a bare infinitive, although in
some definitions, a modal verb can also govern the
to
-infinitive (as in the case
of
ought
).
They have the syntactic properties associated with auxiliary verbs in English,
principally that they can undergo subject–auxiliary inversion (in questions, for
example) and can be negated by the appending of
not
after the verb.
1.
^ However, they used to be conjugated by person and number, but with the
preterite endings. Thus, they often have deviating second-person singular
forms, which still may be heard in quotes from the Bible (as
in
thou shalt not steal
) or in poetry.
The following verbs have all of the above properties, and can be classed as the
principal modal verbs of English. They are listed here in present–preterite
pairs
where applicable:
can
and
could
may
and
might
shall
and
should
will
and
would
must
(no preterite; see etymology below)
Note that the preterite forms are not necessarily used to refer to past time, and in
some cases, they are near-synonyms to the present forms. Note that most of these
so-called preterite forms are most often used in the subjunctive mood in the present
tense. The auxiliary verbs
may
and
let
are also used often in the subjunctive mood.
Famous examples of these are "May The Force be with you." and "Let God bless
you with good." These are both sentences that express some uncertainty; hence
they are subjunctive sentences.
The verbs listed below mostly share the above features but with certain differences.
They are sometimes, but not always, categorized as modal verbs.
[3]
They may also
be called "semi-modals".
The verb
ought
differs from the principal modals only in that it governs a
to
-
infinitive rather than a bare infinitive (compare
he should go
with
he
ought to go
).
The verbs
dare
and
need
can be used as modals, often in the negative (
Dare he
fight?
;
You dare not do that.
;
You need not go.
), although they are more
commonly found in constructions where they appear as ordinary inflected verbs
(
He dares to fight
;
You don't need to go
). There is also a dialect verb, nearly
obsolete but sometimes heard in Appalachia and the Deep South of the United
States:
darest
, which means "dare not", as in "You darest do that."
The verb
had
in the expression
had better
behaves like a modal verb, hence
had
better
(considered as a compound verb) is sometimes classed as a modal or
semi-modal.
The verb
used
in the expression
used to (do something)
can behave as a modal,
but is more often used with
do
-support than with auxiliary-verb syntax:
Did she
used to do it?
(or
Did she use to do it?
) and
She didn't used to do it
(or
She
didn't use to do it
)
[a]
are more common than
Used she to do it?
and
She used not
(usedn't) to do it
.
Other English auxiliaries appear in a variety of
different forms and are not
regarded as modal verbs. These are:
be
, used as an auxiliary in passive voice and continuous aspect constructions; it
follows auxiliary-verb syntax even when used as a copula, and in auxiliary-like
formations such as
be going to
,
is to
and
be about to
;
have
, used as an auxiliary in perfect aspect constructions, including the
idiom
have got (to)
; it is also used in
have to
, which has modal meaning, but
here (as when denoting possession)
have
only rarely follows auxiliary-verb
syntax (see also
Dostları ilə paylaş: