Modal verbs - an overview

Modal verbs are a type of auxiliary verb that gives 'modality' to the main verb, to express, for example: ability, probability, obligation or permission.

This post is not intended to be a lesson, but a sort of Ready Reference. It consists of three parts:

1. Introduction to modal verbs and some similar verbal expressions
2. Modal verbs listed by function
3. Modals listed by verb

Modals also have special uses which I haven't really gone into here, such as in conditionals, reported speech and future in the past. There are also no doubt some uses I've missed. If you spot any, please leave a comment.

A Brief History of Tense

The standard TEFL model - twelve tenses (or forms)

In EFL and ESL, we usually talk of twelve tenses or forms, each being a combination of a time and an aspect. Although few EFl / ESL writers would talk of a twelve tense system, that's what it really amounts to.

But writers on grammar haven't always seen it like that (and some don't today). As so many old grammar books are available on the web these days, whether at Project Gutenberg, Google Books or Archive.org, I thought it might be interesting to have a look at how English tenses have been treated over the centuries, and have a look at some old grammar books at the same time.

Archive.org deserves a special mention. Their books are freely available in several formats; the online facsimile versions (which I link to in the text) are very easy to read through and find things in, but they also have other formats for downloading, for example for e-readers.

Confusing verbs - consist, include, make up, comprise and constitute etc

We can use several verbs to talk about the parts that form or make up something (the whole). Some can be a little confusing, and with one, not everybody agrees on all its uses. Read a bit about them and do a short exercise. (Hat-tip to Peter Harvey at Lavengro, whose post gave me the idea - see links).

The twelve tense system in English - an overview

Not everyone agrees on what comprises a tense. It is common to talk about present, past and future tenses, but some people think a tense must involve inflection (or morphological change), that is a change in the form of the verb itself, as in Latin and many European languages, so they recognise only two tenses - past and present. On the other hand, one early grammar book talked of six tenses.

In EFL/ESL we usually work on the basis that a tense combines a time (present, past or future) with an aspect (simple, continuous, perfect simple or perfect continuous). This gives us twelve active tenses. In theory we could also have twelve passive tenses, but in practice, only eight are used.

Although I will be talking a bit about individual tenses, my main aim here is to show how, in this way of looking at things, all twelve tenses fit into a neat, easy to understand scheme.

Verbs with two objects

Some verbs can take two objects. The first one is usually a person or group of people, and the second one a thing or things. Learn all about them with these exercises.

At the end of the post there's also a table of the different patterns that can be found with these verbs.

Thackeray's use of -ise/-ize verbs in Vanity Fair

In which I list all the instances of this type of verb in Mr. Thackeray's fine work and note certain inconsistencies in the spelling thereof, and do the same for Mr. Darwin and his Origin of Species.

Some random thoughts about -ise and -ize verbs in British English.

As a change from writing grammar exercises for foreign students, I've decided with this post to make a small contribution to the debate on the position of -ise/-ize verbs in Britain. It is rather long and quite detailed, and illustrated with lots of examples.

Hot verbs, empty verbs - Exercises with do, give, have, make, take

A look at some common uses of the verbs

do, give, have, make, take

with lots of exercises for advanced students

Stative verbs plus

What are stative verbs?

Stative verbs (or state verbs) are a relatively small group of verbs which describe states rather than actions, and so are in contrast to dynamic (or action verbs), which form the vast majority of verbs.

Stative verbs tend to be connected with existence, thoughts, emotions, the senses and possession. They often describe states which last for quite a long time. The most common is the verb be.

The most important thing to remember about stative verbs is that they are not normally used in continuous (progressive) tenses, which are usually used to describe actions or change. However quite a few verbs can be both stative and dynamic, and some stative verbs can even occasionally be used in continuous tenses, so we need to be able to distinguish how they are being used.

Verb patterns - new page

Verb patterns - verb + ing form, verb + infinitive, verb + that clause

I've put together what I think is a fairly comprehensive table of structures that can come after just over 400 different verbs. There's also a feature where you can look up a verb and see a short list of its possible structures.

One of these days I'll get round to doing some exercises on verb patterns. Meanwhile this should help as a reference.

And as this is for reference I've done it as a page rather than a post. Just click here or on 'Verb patterns' in the list of pages above.

Emphatic do, does, did and other auxiliaries.

A quick look at how we stress auxiliaries to add emphasis.
Now with exercises.

Present Perfect or Past Simple?

Even at advanced level, students whose native language doesn't have an equivalent can have problems with Present Perfect, and how its use differs from that of Past Simple.

Some aspects of Past Simple are better dealt with together with the other narrative tenses. Here I will only deal those areas where it can be confused with Present Perfect.

So I'll be concentrating here mostly on Present Perfect, as this seems to be where most problems lie, and some aspects of it I think are worth drawing attention to. Hopefully, by doing the exercises you will get a better feel for the differences between the two tenses.

Unreal Past

What is Unreal Past?

Unreal Past is the use of past tenses to talk about hypothetical situations. We use Past Simple, and sometimes Past Continuous, to talk about unlikely or unreal situations in the present and future, and Past Perfect for unlikely or unreal situations in the past.

We use Unreal Past in the following:

• Unreal or hypothetical conditionals - second, third and mixed
• The constructions I wish ... and If only ...
• Expressing a preference with I'd rather, I'd sooner, I'd prefer, I'd just as soon
• Hypothesising with What if, supposing, imagine
• After as if and as though when we think the situation is unlikely
• It's time
• Being tentative - If ... were to
• Idiom - If it wasn't for / weren't for / hadn't been for

I've already talked about unreal conditionals here, and have gone into some detail on I wish and If only here, so in this post I'm going to be concentrating on the other uses of Unreal Past. But I do look at two expressions sometimes used with unreal conditionals - were to and if it weren't for.

Confusing verbs - come, go, bring, take and get

Polish has two basic verbs for go: iść and jechać. Which you use depends whether you are on foot or on a horse. Or rather whether you would have made the journey on foot or on a horse in the days before mechanised transport.

In English, it is not the method that is so important, but the direction relative to the speaker or the person they are talking to. And it's the same if we are carrying something or are with someone.

I don't think many advanced students really have problems with come and go, but when it comes to bring and take, it seems to be a different matter. Practise using these verbs in their basic sense with these exercises:

Exploring grammar - verb types

A recent discussion at GrammarGirl (link below) about the active voice talked a lot about unaccusative verbs and semantic patients in its explanation. I'm not convinced of the wisdom of using these specialist linguistic terms on a website read by a general audience of native speakers and learners. I have a slight suspicion that more than a few will have been more confused at the end than they were at the beginning.

But in the interests of understanding, I've tried to put these terms into some sort of scheme, while at the same time looking at different terms used for types of verbs, both by linguists and by more general grammar books. I hope this will be interesting, but I'm not suggesting that there is any need for the general reader or learner to learn these specialist terms.

Disclaimer - Please don't take this as any kind of gospel. As usual, I make no claims to be either a grammarian or a linguist. This is simply my way of trying to work it all out. Any linguists who might happen to stumble on this are welcome to let me know if I've gone wrong.

We'll be looking briefly at the following:

• Main (lexical) verbs and auxiliary (helping) verbs
• Transitive, intransitive verbs and linking verbs
• Subjects and objects, agents and targets (patients)
• Ambitransitive and ergative verbs
• Unaccusative verbs and unergative verbs
• Empty verbs and inchoative verbs
• Dynamic and stative verbs
• Finite and non finite verbs forms

Random quiz - Prepositions after verbs

This quiz is based on a list of over 250 verbs followed by prepositions and includes dependent prepositions and phrasal verbs.

Verbs ending in -en based on adjectives

There are a small number of verbs made from adjectives (or occasionally nouns based on adjectives) with -en added, meaning to make something more of that quality the adjective describes.

These verbs fall into certain categories:

• Dimensions and shape - lengthen, shorten, straighten etc
• Light and colour - brighten, darken, whiten etc
• Density and composition - harden, soften, thicken etc
• Others - freshen, ripen, sweeten etc

These are ergative verbs, which means they can be transitive or intransitive, and where the object of the transitive verb becomes the subject of the intransitive verb.

• The hot summer ripened the fruit earlier than usual.
• The fruit ripened in the sun.

For more on ergative verbs see my post - Ergative verbs? What on earth are they?

Here are three short exercises based on -en verbs

Ergative verbs? What on earth are they?

In Advanced grammar books you occasionally come across the term 'Ergative verbs'. So what are they when they're at home? They are a special group of verbs which can be used both transitively and intransitively, and where the object of the transitive verb becomes the subject of the intransitive verb.

• Mary was cooking some lasagna for supper.
• While the lasagna was cooking, Mary listened to some music.

Most of them are related to four types of activity:

• Change of some kind
• General movement
• Movement in vehicles
• Cooking

So as well as looking at the grammar of ergative verbs, which is pretty straightforward, we can revise some verbs connected with these activities, especially cooking verbs.

Word corner - nearly all you need to know about need

The word need can be a verb and a noun. As well as being a normal main verb, in British English it can also be used as a semi-modal verb. In addition it has a couple of special uses and there are several expressions based on it.

Lesson on linking verbs aka copular verbs

If you have a good learner's dictionary, it will tell you if a verb is transitive, intransitive or a linking verb. There are only three 'pure' linking verbs be, become and seem. But there are forty or so other verbs which are used as linking verbs as well as being transitive or intransitive. They are mainly to do with appearance, the senses and processes of change.

Explore linking verbs by doing lots of short exercises