WORKSHEET

MODAL VERBS

General ability can, can’t

Real ability Past ability (repeated past action) could, couldn’t
Past ability (a single past action) was / were able to
Decisions made now about future can, can’t, could, couldn’t
ability
Future ability will / won’t be able to
General hypothetical ability could, couldn’t
Hypothetical ability Future hypothetical ability could, couldn’t
Past hypothetical ability could have (asked)
couldn’t have (asked)

Asking for permission may, can, can’t, could, couldn’t

Giving / Refusing permission may, may not, could, couldn’t, can, can’t

Asking for and giving advice should, shouldn’t, ought to, oughtn’t to, had better

Criticising past behaviour should have , shouldn’t have, ought to have,

oughtn’t to have
Expressing annoyance at past behaviour could have, might have
Criticising general behaviour will
Criticising a specific example of someone’s general would
behaviour might as well

General obligation must, mustn’t, have to, need to

Lack of general obligation don’t have to, needn’t, don’t need to
Future obligation will have to, must
A lack of future obligation don’t/won’t have to, needn’t, don’t/won’t need to
Past obligation had to, needed to
A lack of past obligation didn’t have to, didn’t need to, needn’t have (asked)
Duty should, ought to

General Possibility can, could, may, might

Possibility about the past could have, may have, might have (said)

Logical deductions / assumptions must, can’t, couldn’t

Prohibition mustn’t, can’t

Probability should, ought to = probably