Модальные глаголы английского языка. Учебное пособие

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Содержание

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Пояснительная записка

-• “ • • • • • • • ” -

• • • • -

• • • • • , • • •

• • • • •• - • • • — • •• • • •, • † • •

• • • • .

‚ † • • ‰-

• • • • •

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-• „ • •• -

«„ • • •• • • • ». -• • • • • ••

• • • • • •-

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ƒ• • • • • -

• • • •• • •. „ • • • • • • • • † • • † •-

• • • : can, may, must, have to, be to, ought, should. „ • †• • •

• ••. • • • • Š • • • ••, † -

… • . ‰ • -

• •• • •, • •, • •

• • Š • ••

• •• • . ‡ • † • • -

• • •. ‹-• , • †

† • • • • ••- • • . ‹-• , - † ‰ † • , • • • • •

MODAL VERBS

Modal verbs, unlike other verbs, do not denote actions or states, but only show the attitude of the speaker towards the action expressed by the in‘nitive in combination with which they form compound modal predicates. ’ey show that the action indicated by the in‘nitive is considered as possible, impossible, probable, improbable, obligatory, necessary, advisable, doubtful, certain, uncertain, requested, prohibited, ordered, etc.

Modal verbs occur only with the in‘nitive. ’is or that meaning is to a great degree determined by the communicative type of the sentence and the form of the in‘nitive.

’ere are 12 modal verbs in the English language. ’ey are: can, may, must, should, ought to, shall, will, would, need, dare, to be to, to have to. ’e latter two are modal only in one of their meanings.

Ten of them (that is, all but to be to and to have to) are also called defective verbs as they lack some features characteristic of other verbs, that is:

1)they do not take — s in the third person singular;

2)they have no verbals (non-‘nite forms of the verb), so they have no analytical forms;

3)they have (except for can and may) only one form and no past tense;

4)they are followed (except for ought to) by a bare in‘nitive (that is by the in‘nitive without the particle to);

5)they need no auxiliary to build up the interrogative and negative

forms.

Most of the modal verbs have more than one meaning. Each of their meanings is characterized by a speci‘c usage:

1)some of the meanings may be found in all kinds of sentences; others occur only in a•rmative and negative sentences;

2)di˜erent meanings may be associated with di˜erent forms of the in‘nitive — simple and perfect (both in the active and passive forms), continuous and perfect continuous;

3)if the modal verbs have more than one form (can — could, may — might, will — would, also the verbs to have to and to be to), their di˜erent meanings are not necessarily found in all those forms.

All modal verbs have 2 negative forms, full and contracted.

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Note the peculiar contracted form of some modal verbs:

It is important to take into account one more feature peculiar to modal verbs. ’ey all show that a certain action is represented as necessary, possible, desirable, doubtful, etc. from the point of view of the speaker. Consequently, modal verbs are generally used in conversation. In past-time contexts they may be found only in reported speech or thought. ’us You should have done it before, or He might be wrong, or It must be true cannot be possible found in narration unless they are used ašer He thought that …, He said that…, He knew that …, etc. ’e only exceptions are the past tense forms could, would, had to, was to and might which may be used not only in conversation but also in narration.

CAN

’e modal verb can has the following forms: can — the present tense (e.g. ey can speak English) and could — the past tense. ’e form could is used in two ways:

a)in past-time contexts as a form of the Indicative Mood (e.g. ey could speak English when they were children),

b)in present-time contexts to express unreality, or as a milder and more polite form of can, or as a form implying more uncertainty than can (e.g.

ey could speak English if necessary. Could I help you? Could it be true?) Compare with the Russian : ,

(unreality). ? (politeness) -

? (uncertainty).

I. Can followed by the non-perfect common aspect in‘nitive expresses:

1.Physical and mental ability or capacity.

’e notion of ability is also expressed by “to be able to”.

e.g. He can read a little French (can = to be able, to know how to…).

I can imagine how angry he is (can = to be capable of). I can drive a car = I know how to …

I couldn’t understand him when he spoke very fast (= was unable to, was incapable of …).

He could (was able to) speak English very well when he was twelve. ’e meaning of ability is expressed only by “to be able to” when the refer-

ence is to the future, as can, having no in‘nitive, has no future tense forms. e.g. He will be able to write to us from Portugal.

Can is interchangeable with to be able to when it denotes mere capacity. e.g. I couldn’t / was not able to do that new job; it was too di•cult. ’is man could / was able to cure all diseases.

But only to be able to is used to express attainment or achievement of something through some capacity. ’us to be able to ošen combines the idea of “ability” and “achievement”. In this case was able to means “managed to” or “succeeded in”, and could is impossible.

e.g. ’e ‘re brigade was able (succeeded in putting, managed) to put out the ‘re before it destroyed the other buildings. „ • • • , •

…

I was able to go to the mountains yesterday as I had a day o˜ (Iœcould and went).

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I was able to nish my work in an hour (Iœmanaged, I could and did it).

2.Possibility.

a)possibility due to circumstances: e.g. Anybody can make a mistake. You can buy pastry in your local store.

b)possibility due to the existing laws:

e.g. You cannot play football in the street (i.e. you have no right). In old days a man could be sentenced to death for a small crime. c) possibility of the idea (the so-called “theoretical” possibility):

e.g. ’e railways can be improved. (Itœis possible for the railways to be improved, as they are not yet prefect.)

In general statements of possibility can has roughly the same meaning as “sometimes”.

e.g. ’e sea can be rough. = ’e sea is sometimes rough.

Can is generally used in questions about possibility and in statements about impossibility.

e.g. Can this be true? (Isœit possible that this is true?) ’is can’t be true. (Itœis impossible that this is true.)

NOTE: When could is used with reference to the past it denotes only the ability or possibility of performing an action but not the realization of the action. ’erefore when a realized or an unrealized action is expressed, could is naturally not used. If an action was carried out in the past, it is expressed with the help of to manage or to succeed (the latter is used in literary style).

e.g. He managed to settle the di•culty. He succeeded in attaining his aim.

If an action was not realized in the past it is expressed with the help of to fail, or to manage and to succeed in the negative form.

e.g. He failed to reach the peak.

He did not manage to settle the di•culty. Compare with the Russian:

‚ • • ( • ) • ‹ • † . — In his youth he could swim across the Volga.

‚ • • • ‹ • ‰ • • . — He managed to swim across the Volga last year.

‚ • • ( • ) • ‹ • ‰ • • . — He failed (didn’t manage) to swim across the Volga last year.