Level: beginner
The modal verbs are:
| can may must shall will |
could might should would |
We use modals to show if we believe something is certain, possible or impossible:
My keys must be in the car.
It might rain tomorrow.
That can't be Peter's coat. It's too small.
We also use them to do things like talk about ability, ask permission, and make requests and offers:
I can't swim.
May I ask a question?
Could I have some tea, please?
Would you like some help?
- Modal verbs
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Hi Adya's,
The examples you provided are inconsistent in my opinion. As you mention, the problem is the use of would for real or certain future events. There needs to be an explicit or implied qualification of some kind to make the event unlikely or uncertain.
In your examples we have the opposite. We have decided introduces a decision which has been taken and is, therefore, necessarily real; will is needed here, not would. In the second example the phrase if you buy today makes it clear that a real or likely situation is in mind and so would is inconsistent.
I can't really think of a context in which would would be appropriate here, and I think it is far more likely that these are simply inaccurate sentences and that the newspapers in which they were published would benefit from better proofreaders!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Adya's,
Those do not look like standard sentences to me. I can't comment on their use because I don't know the source or context but I would not say that those are correct examples.
Remember that people do not always speak in fully grammatical forms. We make mistakes or change our minds in the process of expressing ourselves. This may be the issue if these are direct quotations from people.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Learner Kid,
This is an example of the modal use of 'need'. A test is to try to replace the word with other modal verbs:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello SonuKumar,
As you know, modal verbs are very much context dependent in terms of meaning so it's not really possible to give an answer to this question without guessing what the context might be. In general, 'has to' suggests that something is necessary, required or obligatory while 'should' could suggest a preference or an expectation.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Manshuk,
This page is a general page on modal verbs. You can find exercises on the pages devoted to particular modal verbs or concepts. You can see links to these pages above the comments section or in the list on the right.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sash,
The phrase 'the path... is seldom direct' means that the process is usually a complex one.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Hamdy Ali,
In the first example 'might' is correct. We can use 'must' to speculate about the present (so we could say 'they must be getting worried now') but not to guess about the future.
In the second example I would say that 'the fewest tourists' or 'the lowest number of tourists' would be the most natural options. You could say 'the least number of tourists', though it is unusual and not the most common/standard option. 'The fewest number of' is not correct.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Hamdy Ali,
I'm afraid we don't provide answers to questions from elsewhere. If we tried to do this then we would end up trying to do everyone's homework or tests for them! We're happy to explain things and provide as much help as we can but we don't give answers to tasks from elsewhere.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team