Best 13 Types of Modal Verbs (With Examples)

Auxiliary Verbs are verbs that merely help principal verbs in the formation of various verb forms. Auxiliary verbs are important as structural verbs.

Auxiliary Verbs are of two types: Primary Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliary Verbs. Following is a detailed discussion about the types of Modal Verbs.

Types of Modal Verbs

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

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

MODALS	FUNCTIONS	EXAMPLES
Will	asking possibility suggestion	Will you go to school? It will rain today. You will not keep late hours at night before the exam.
Would	requesting	Would you give me a pen?
Shall	asking possibility	Shall I do the work? I hope I shall complete the project within a week.
Should	suggest seeking advice	You should walk a mile in the morning. Should we go for a walk?
Can	ability possibility	The boy can speak English fluently. We can hold a condolence meeting for his death this Sunday.
Could	ability requesting	He could do the sum. Could you help me to solve the problem?
May	possibility permission offering	He may come here today. May I come in? May I get you a cup of tea?
Might	possibility suggestion	His statement might be true. You might just as well go.
Must	obligation certainty strong probability prohibition	You must obey your teacher. Man must die one day. You must be tired after a long journey. We must not waste our time.
Dare	have the courage challenge negative force interrogation	He dare not say so. (not dares’) I dare you to prove that you’ve said so. He dare not follow you. Who dares to enter the room?
Need	prohibition interrogation	You need not (needn’t) come here. Need he go there?
Used to	habitual action in the past	My father used to teach me English.
Ought to	obligation strong likelihood	You ought to work hard. The lawyer ought to be able to help you.