They only left five minutes ago! Making Conditional Statements You’ve just slept all morning! (It’s not possible in my opinion.) When you are almost certain something is true (or not true) you can use the modal verbs ‘must’ and ‘can’t. To make suggestions we can use ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘shall’ and ‘should’. The suspect shall remain in custody until the trial. Guests shall report any damage to the hotel facilities before leaving.Įmployees shall not take home office equipment. In very formal contexts, especially in the written form, we also use ‘shall’ to express an obligation. They oughtn’t ride their bicycles without helmets. We ought to start the meeting, it’s getting late. She ought to make a decision about that house before someone else buys it. You ought to try this soup – it’s delicious! ‘Ought’ is the only modal verb that is followed by ‘to’, though normally only in the affirmative form. We can also use ‘ought’ and ‘oughtn’t to describe mild obligations, though it’s more common in British English than American English. I think we should go at 4pm to avoid the rush-hour traffic. We often use ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ to give advice. When we want to describe a milder obligation (something important but not necessarily mandatory) we can use ‘should’. You mustn’t enter this room without permission. We can use it in the affirmative form to say something is mandatory, and in the negative form to say something is prohibited. The main modal verb we use to describe obligations is ‘must’. They may come round later if they have time. I think we could win this match but it’ll be hard.
80% sure (According to the weather forecast.) We can use a range of modal verbs to describe the future, depending on how probable we think the event or situation is. He couldn’t get tickets for the concert because it was sold out. I could hear the thunder even though it was far away. She couldn’t do the Maths homework so she asked her friend for help. When I was younger I could play the piano. For example:Ĭan they play football? Yes, but not very well. We use ‘can’ to refer to present and general abilities, and ‘could’ to refer to past abilities.
There are two modal verbs we use to describe ability – ‘can’ and ‘could’. May I wear jeans to the office? – I’m afraid you may not because we have a strict dress code.Ĭan my kids play here? Describing Abilities and Possibilities We can also ask and give permission with varying levels of formality:Įxcuse me, could we sit here? – Certainly.Ĭan I get myself a glass of water, John? – Sure, help yourself. Would you send the material as soon as possible please?Ĭould you bring us the bill please? Asking and Giving Permission In English there are several ways we can make requests and with different levels of formality: Now you’ve seen the structure, let’s look at the different situations in which we use modal verbs. To make questions we invert the subject and the modal verb: To make negative sentences, we add ‘not’: Affirmative sentences are the same for all subjects with modal verbs, which means you don’t need to add -s to the third person singular: The great thing about modal verbs is that they all follow three simple rules to make affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences. Each modal verb describes either how, why or when an action happens. In fact, most modal verbs have no real meaning without another verb. Modal verbs are special verbs that we use in combination with another verb. Let’s have a look to see what modal verbs have in common and the many ways they can be used.
So learning how to use modal verbs can really improve your level of fluency. Today, there are two Bengali-language film industries: the one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India (the Cinema of West Bengal, sometimes called Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge, a neighbourhood of Calcutta where most of the Bengali film studios are located, and Hollywood), is one of many centres for Indian regional filmmaking and the other one in Dhaka, Bangladesh (the Cinema of Bangladesh, sometimes called Dhallywood, a portmanteau of the words Dhaka and Hollywood), is the mainstream national film industry of Bangladesh.Modal verbs are a fundamental part of English because they express obligations, abilities, probabilities, suggestions and much more. Its long tradition of filmmaking includes acclaimed directors such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Ritwik Ghatak to contemporary directors such as Aparna Sen and Rituparno Ghosh.
Tollygunj in Kolkata is the location of Bengali movie studios. Mainstream Hindi films are popular, as they are films from the Bengali cinema industry, dubbed "Tollywood". The city has a tradition of dramas in the form of jatra (a kind of folk-theatre), theatres and Group Theatres.