CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
F. Modal Auxiliary Verbs
1. Definition of Modal Auxiliary Verbs
Hopkins and Cullen in Nihayah (2011) define that modal auxiliaries are auxiliary verbs that give information about ability, possibility or necessity. The modals such as can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, ought to and need are followed by the infinitive without to and their forms does not change. For example,
“He could speak French and Italian” (not He could speaks).
In addition Betty Schramper Azer in his book Understanding and Using English Grammar 2nd Edition, she suggests that modal auxiliaries generally express a speaker/writer’s attitudes or moods. For example modal can express that a speaker/writer feels something necessary advisable, permissible, possible, or probable. So, they can convey the strength of these attitudes.
In conclusion, modal auxiliaries are functional words that can help the main verbs to express something such as ability possibility and necessity. And also modal auxiliary verbs consist of some modal, such as modal can, may, will, shall, etc. All of the modal auxiliaries have its own past form too, such as could, might, would, should, etc.
2. Kinds of Modal Auxiliary Verbs
According to Betty Schrampfer Azar in her book under the title Understanding and Using English Grammar 2nd Edition, the types of modal auxiliary can be divided into two types. First, modal auxiliary
can, could, had better, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would. Second similar expressions: be able to, be going to, be supposed to, be to, have to, have got to, used to.
Stig Johanson et al at Solihah (2017) stated in their book that modals and semi modals can be grouped into three major categories according to their main meanings (excluding used to, which relate to past time).
a. Permission/possibility/ability: can, could, may, might
b. Obligation/necessity: must, should, had better, have to, need, ought to, be s to, be supposed to.
c. Volicion/prediction; will, would, shall, be going to.
Here are the explanations from some statements above about the usages of modal auxiliary verbs, as follows:
a. Can
Can is used informally to request permission, especially if speaker is talking to someone she/he knows fairly well. The detail functions of can are followed:
1) To express their ability e.g. He can swim.
2) To express request or asking to someone else for doing something
e.g. Can you open the windows?
3) To express asking or giving permission
e.g. You can gow home now. (giving permission) Can I go home now? (asking permission) 4) To express possibility
e.g. He can be a good doctor in the future.
5) To express offering something to someone else e.g. Can I get you some tea?
b. Could
1) Could express ability, subject to certain conditions which probably do not exist. In the use, could can refer to the present, the past, or the future.
e.g. I could go now, if I wanted to. (I do not want to).
2) Could is used to request permission, it is some what more formal and polite than can.
e.g. Could I borrow your pen?
3) Could also express the ability in the past.
e.g. When I was younger, I could run fast.
c. May
1) May expresses possibility
e.g. It may rain, according to the weather report.
2) May is also used to express permission.
It is considered more formal and polite than can or could.
e.g. May I smoke here? No, you may not.
d. Might
1) Might expresses possibility which is considerably slighter or weaker than that express by may
e.g. I might accompany you, but it doesn’t appear very likely.
2) Might is used to ask permission. It is more polite than, can, could, or could.
e.g. Might I be excused early?
e. Shall
1) To express the request for agreement or an offer to do something for someone.
e.g. Shall I answer the telephone for you?
2) Shall is used with the first person pronoun, I and We to express future action.
e.g. We shall return in September.
3) Shall can express a threat
e.g. If you speak like that again, you should be punished.
4) Shall may express a promise
e.g. You shall receive your diploma in June.
f. Should
1) To express sugestion
e.g. You look tired, you should take a rest.
2) To ask or give the opinion about something e.g. I am bad at English. What should I do?
3) To show the obligation
e.g. You should pay the tax regularly.
4) To criticize the condition or situation
e.g. The children shouldn’t be playing. They should be at school.
g. Will
1) Will is used to express agreement, mild promise or willingness, or in a question, to make a polite request.
e.g. I will do whatever you think best.
2) The negative of will may express refusal e.g. My uncle will not be there tonight.
3) To express a prediction.
e.g. According to the weather report, it will be cloudy tomorrow.
4) To express willingness e.g. A: The phone is ringing.
B: I will get it.
h. Would
1) The express the result of the a condition in a contary to fact situation.
e.g. If I had time, I would go with you.
2) In the interrogative would may inquire as to someone’s willingness to do something, ask about someone’s preference, or invite someone to do something.
e.g. Would you be kind enough to this for me?
Would friend be interested in this book about ancient art?
Would you like to join us for tea tomorrow?
3) Would in the negative express the refusal. It is the past of will not.
e.g. He would not let me neter the country.
4) To express a habitual or customory action in the past.
e.g. When I was young, my grandfather would tell me stories.
i. Must
1) Function of must in obligation
a) To express the idea of necessity or unavoidable obligation, or a condition which can not be changed.
e.g. The time is up, we must go.
You must try harder.
b) Must in the negative express prohibition and it is used to keep someone from doing something.
e.g. You must not walk on the grass.
You must not pick the flower in the park.
c) In affirmative must can be used to give a strong advice or orders to oneself or other people.
e.g. You must be here by eight o’clock at the latesr.
d) In interrogative must is used to ask about the wishes or intentions of the person one is speaking to.
e.g. Must I clean all the rooms?
2) Function of must in deduction.
a) Must can be used to say that we are sure about something.
e.g. Mary must have some problems: she keeps crying.
b) Must is only use in this way in affirmative sentences. In questions and negatives we use can or can’t instead.
e.g. That can be the postman, It’s only seven o’clock.
c) Must is used with the perfect infinitive for deduction about the past.
e.g. The lights have gone out. A fuse must have blown.
d) In reported speech, must can be used after a past reporting verb as if it was a past tense (only in this case must refers to the past).
e.g. I felt that must be something wrong.
j. Ought to
1) Ought to, like should express desirability, avoidable obligation, or duty. It relates to present or future time. Ought to and should are often used interchangeably.
e.g. You ought to study more.
2) Ought to + have + past participle, referring to past time, indicates that a duty has not been doen or, in the negative something wrong has been done.
e.g. You ought not to have wasted your time.
k. Be going to
Be going to implies prior or planning, or suggest a process leading to an action.
e.g. Ridho is going to apply for a position in the Foreign Service.
l. Have to
1) Have to is used , with a following infinitive, o express the idea of obligation.
e.g. Sorry I have to go now.
2) Have to is used to make a distinction between habitual or repeated obligation, and non habitual obligation. Where there is the idea of repitition we use ordinary verb forms, with do in questions and negatives.
e.g. I don’t usually have to work on Sunday.
3) When people are talking about thing that they are obliged to do, it is more usual to use got-forms.
e.g. I have not go to work tomorrow.
4) Got forms are unsual in the past, and are replaced by ordinary verb forms of infintive and participle.
e.g. Did you go to the mosque that near to your house when you are a child?
5) To talk about the future, both have to and will have to are common. e.g. I’ve got to get up early tomorrow. We are going to holiday.
m. Used to
Used to expresses the idea of a customary or habitual action in the past. e.g. It used to take weeks to cross the ocean by ship.
n. Be to
Be to is used to indicate plans or arrangements.
e.g. I am to telephone him tomorrow. (It has been arranged that I will telephone him tomorrow.)
o. Need
Need is used to express immediate necessity in the future.
e.g. You need not pay for the bill.
1) The ordinary forms of need are much more common than the modal auxiliary forms. The only modal form which is often is need not.
e.g. You needn’t try to explain Do you need to stay this evening?
2) Present tense foms of need can be used to talk about the future, but will need to is often used to give advice.
e.g. Need I come early tomorrow?
3) Affirmative modal forms are possible after negative verbs and in sentences which express doubt or negative ideas.
e.g. I don’t thing he need go just yet.
p. Dare
1) To express bravely e.g. I dare go alone.
2) The negative form of dare is used to express fear e.g. I daren’t look.
q. Have got to
Have got to also expresses the idea of necessity it is informal and is used primarily in spoken English. Usual pronunciation of got to is “gotta”.
e.g. I have got to go now.
r. Be supposed to
1) To express the idea that someone expects something to happen
e.g. The game is supposed to begin at 10:00 o’clock a.m.
2) To expect the expectations about behavior e.g. I am supposed to go to the meeting.
s. Had better.
In meaning, had better is close to should/ought to. But had better is usually stronger. Often had better implies a warning or a threat of possible bad consequences. Had better has a present or future
meaning. It is followed by the simple form of verb. It is more common in speaking than writing.
e.g. The gas tank is also empty. We had better stop at the next service station.