The first step is in understanding modal
auxiliaries is to distinguish modal auxiliary verbs from
auxiliary verbs. There are three auxiliary
verbs. These are do, be,
and
have. As described by href="http://faculty.deanza.edu/flemingjohn/stories/storyReader$33">John Fleming of
DeAnza College, auxiliary verbs are used in specific instances and may also
uesd as main verbs.
Auxiliary
have is used to construct the perfect aspect in the
three tenses (past, present, future): Perfect aspect have +
-ed participle. Auxiliary
have is used in all moods and in all
affirmative and negated sentences.
Auxiliary
be is used in
continuous aspects (Progressive and Perfect Progressive):
Progressive aspect be + -ing
participle; Perfect Progressive
have + be + -ing
participle. Auxiliary
be is a significant part of
passive voice sentence construction:
be + -ed
participle. You'll note that the
difference in construction between the progressive aspect and the passive voice is the
form of the participle: progressive aspect uses the present
-ing participle while passive voice uses the past -ed
participle. Auxiliary
be is used in all moods and in all
affirmative and negated sentences.
Auxiliary
do is used in simple
past tense and simple present tense. Auxiliary
do differs from the other two
auxiliary verbs because it is used only in interrogative mood and in negated
sentences.
As taught by href="http://www.eurotp.org/uk/staff.asp">Howard Jackson of Birmingham City
University, and others, modal auxiliaries, in
contrast to auxiliary verbs, are of greater variety. The modal auxiliaries are
can, could, must, may, might, will, would, ought to, shall,
should. Some people add used to, need,
dare, but the addition is not necessarily common.
Modal auxiliaries fulfil a specialized function in English.
They express futurity and probability
along with obligation and
politeness. Some people give a more expanded explanation and elaborate on
the above three categories by saying modal auxiliaries (modals) express
advice, ability, necessity, expectation, permission, possibility
and more, but all of these are subcategories of futurity and probability and
obligation and politeness. Modals establish relationships between
individuals in written or spoken discourse and establish the
distinctions between obligation and discretionary
choice.
English in fact has no
inflected future tense. In English, future
tense is a construct of will, shall, would,
or should with a
main verb: "I will be there." "I shall come to you." "You should work
harder to graduate." "I would run more if I had more time." Therefore modals are
integral to expressing futurity in
English.
Probability, the
degrees of possibility, impossibility, and certainty are expressed with
must, may, can, and might. "The
invitation must have been sent." "It may be lost." "Invitations can be misdirected." "It
might have been misdirected."
Obligation
and politeness are expressed variably
through must, ought to, may, will, could, shall, might (formal),
would, should, can,
and
sometimes
need: "Will/would/could/can you help?" "May/can/might I
enquire your name?" "You must/need to/ought to/should help her."
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