2017-10-30 Grammar: intro to modals

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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With your partner, mark the reasons why you might leave your home country and difficulties you might face in the US or another new country. Then add two more sentences to each list.
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Reasons to Emigrate from a Country:
- People don’t have job opportunities.
- People want to escape war.
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Difficulties in a New Country:
- People have to adapt to different cultures.
- People have to adapt to living far from their families.
- People have to learn and follow new laws.
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Modal Auxiliary Verbs
can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must, ought to, had better
- modals don’t change for he/she/it
	I will do it. She will do it.
- modals are followed by the base form of the verb
	I will be late. (NOT I will am late.)
- a modal can only go first in verb phrase (It can’t go after any other verb.)
	NOT I will can do it.
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Similar Expressions (same or similar meaning, but function like normal verbs)
have to/need to, be able to, be allowed to, be supposed to, be going to
- These are also followed by the base form of the verb, but they change for he/she/it and they don’t need to be first in the verb phrase.
	(Instead of “I will can do it”, we say, “I will be able to do it.”)
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p. 67 exercise 1 - Fix the mistakes in these sentences about Victor.
1 Victor doesn’t have to do his homework.
2 Is Victor able to speak Spanish at home? / Can Victor speak Spanish at home?
3 Can Victor speak Spanish? Yes, he can. OR Yes, he can speak Spanish.
4 Where is he allowed to speak Spanish?
5 Why can’t he speak Spanish at school?
6 Should Victor speak Spanish at school? (“Ought” is uncommon and sounds strange in modern English questions.)
7 Should Victor speak English at school? / Does Victor have to speak English at school?
	(“had better” is between “should” and “must”/“have to”)
8 Did Victor use to speak Spanish.
9 Is Victor allowed to speak Spanish in school? No, he isn’t (allowed).
10 Why should he speak English in school? Why shouldn’t he speak Spanish?
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https://books.google.com/ngrams/ - Compare the frequency of words and phrases in books.
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There are many different social functions we can use modals for:
- requests: Can you give me that book?
- permission: May I go to the restroom?
- invitations: Can you come to my party?
- offers: I can help you. I’ll help you. Can I help you?
- promises/intentions: I’ll do it tomorrow.
- general suggestions: We could get pizza.
- specific advice/obligation: You should get pizza.
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Homework: p. 71 exercise 2 - For each sentence, decide which social function it performs. (Sometimes more than one answer may be correct.)