Modal Auxiliary Words

Modal Auxiliary Words are can, may, shall, will, must, ought to, used to, need, and dare. They do not have’ forms or -ed participles.

Can, may, shall, will, have special past forms (could, might, should, would), but the remainder (such as must) do not.

Modal Auxiliary Words

Modal Auxiliary Word #1

Shall / Will

• Who will take this responsibility?
• When shall we meet again?
• When will the book be published?
• Autumn will come after the monsoons.
• He shall be twenty-five next Sunday.
• The country will realize his nobility after his death,
• Shall I take the book?
• Which watch shall I buy?
• Shall we go for a walk now?
• Shall the man serve us breakfast now?
• Will you take your tea with us today?
• Will you allow me to use the telephone?
• He will talk about nothing but food.
• They will be watching TV for hours together.
• That will be Satish who is knocking at the door.

Modal Auxiliary Word #2

May / Might

• l may go.
• He may succeed.
• It may be true.
• He might have been hurt.
• He may have lost his book.
• It might rain tomorrow morning.
• I might go to the market.
• He might have gone home yesterday.
• He may not lend you money.
• The man may not come this night.
• I may see you if I can find the time.
• The man might have got into the room any Moment.
• You might have succeeded if you had tried a little harder.
• He may take rice today. You may come in.
• Yes, you may.
• No, you may not.
• May I take leave?
• May I come in?
• You may go home now.
• May I get a cup of tea?
• May I go out, sir?
• May I help you?
• You might use my pen.
• Might I ask you for a favour?
• I told him that he might see me in
• Might I ask you
• May you live long.
• May you be happy.
• May ruin seize them. May you prosper.
• May God help you.
• May God bless you.
• May his soul rest in peace.
• May you be happy forever, my son.
• May thy wish be fulfilled through my life.

Modal Auxiliary Word #3

Can / Could

• I can walk.
• You cannot read.
• Hari can write.
• Birds can fly.
• Yes, he can.
• No, he cannot.
• Can he swim?
• He can do it easily.
• You could do the work.
• Can you play chess?
• I tried as best I could.
• The dumb cannot speak.
• We cannot do without him.
• We cannot live without water.
• You could do this if you tried.
• He can read English very well.
• I cannot walk as fast as you.
• This pot can hold a litre of milk.
• I could not stand such an insult.
• He was so weak that he could not walk.
• I could not pick him up in the crowd.
• If winter comes, can spring be far behind?
• Dulal could not come to school yesterday on account of his illness.
• I know who can do the job well and who could do it better.
• Could you lend me your pen?
• Could you come to my office?
• Could you help me with some money?
• Could you drop my letter into the letter?
• Could you not help him in this matter?
• Could you come to take tea at my home this evening?

Modal Auxiliary Word #4

Must

• I must go.
• Go I must.
• He must have gone.
• He must be a liar.
• You must do this.
• You must not tell a lie.
• You must be a rich man.
• You must have been absent.
• Must we weep forever?
• We must obey the laws.
• We must go to school every day.
• We must do our duty.
• You must have seen an aeroplane.
• The man must be dead by this time.
• You must take him to the hospital.
• We must abide by the will of God.
• We must on no account allow him to escape.
• I must finish this work before sunset.
• You must have heard the name Rabindranath.
• What cannot be cured must be endured.
• He must have been promoted to class IX by this time.
• The man must be mad or how could he say this?

Modal Auxiliary Word #5

Should / Would

• He would bathe in the river.
• We should not sleep during the daytime.
• Should you excuse my fine, I shall be happy.
• We should obey our parents.
• Bimal would read twelve hours a day.
• Would you please lend me a rupee?
• Would you please tell me the time?
• I should be glad to see you.
• We should not laugh at a lame man.
• Should I put a little more sugar in your tea?
• He would often sit up very late at night.
• I would sometimes sit idle for hours,

Modal Auxiliary Word #6

Ought to

• We ought to obey our parents.
• We ought not to laugh at a lame man.
• You should have (or, ought to have) taken his permission beforehand.
• You should not (of, ought not to) quarrel with your friend.
• He should have (or, ought to have) warned the boy from before.
• You should have (or, ought to have) come back before dark.

Modal Auxiliary Word #7

Dare

• I dare to say that you are a liar.
• He dare not speak of the incident openly.
• I dared or durst not enter the room. Or, I did not dare to enter the room.
• Trisna dare not come to me.
• Parag dared insult me to my face.
• Sugata durst (or, dared) not do this.
• I dare not insult him.
• How dare he argue with you?
• Dare he behaves badly towards my guests?
• Arjuna dared Karna to a duel.
• Bhima dared Duryodhana to fight with clubs.
• Being defeated the other day, he does not dare me to fight with him anymore.
• I dare (defy) death,
• I can dare any danger.
• I shall dare him to fight with me.
• Saurav has dared Donald to fight with him on the field.

Modal Auxiliary Word #8

Need

• Need he go?
• You need not apply.
• Bijan need not go there.
• We need not do this work.
• You need not trouble yourself.
• Rumpita need not come here anymore.
• You need not have waited so long.
• Rohit need not worry.
• You need not have bothered so much about this trivial matter.
• I need not have bought it.
• Need I write (a letter) to him?
• I need your help.

Modal Auxiliary Word #9

Used to

• He used to play football when he was at school.
• I used to live here when I was a boy.
• He used to walk every morning when he was in Kolkata.
• I used to go to school by tramcars.
• In our childhood, we used to sing religious hymns in the morning.
• Raghu used to wake us every morning.
• I used to do physical exercise in my boyhood.
• When at school I used to do sums every day.
• When living in the village, we used to bathe in the tank.

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