What is a Modal Verb English Grammar for Daily Life Conversations

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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alicia

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and I answer them maybe first

question comes from results Wandy heigen

resolved resolved says can you explain

what modal verbs are sure so a modal

verb is a verb that’s used to talk about

possibility or ability in English we

have will and would shall and should can

and could and may might and must I might

come to the office later we should look

for a new apartment can you help me move

my sofa so we use modal verbs in English

to talk about possibility yes and

ability to as with can and could but we

also use them in patterns relating to

giving advice and asking for advice as

well as making offers and requests too

so there are a couple of videos on the

channel that you can check out for some

more information about modal verbs first

you can look at the must for possibility

whiteboard video there’s also a video

about wood especially using wood for

future tense situations that’s coming

out very soon you can also look at the

will vs. going to video on the channel

for some future tense expressions there

are some other videos about modal verbs

coming out and some other information

about may and might and must in live

streams so please take a look around the

channel for some more information some

detailed information about some of these

modal verbs and of course there’ll be

more content coming up soon so I hope

that you check out those lessons and I

hope that you can get a good start on

modal verbs studies thanks very much for

sending this along I hope that helps

clear up what a modal verb is okay let’s

move along to your next question next

question comes from trying hi trying

trying says hi Alicia what does get rid

of mean ah get rid of means throw away

we often use the word

get rid of when we want to throw

something away quickly or when we really

don’t want that item or it was really

unnecessary we can also use the phrase

get rid of with people but this is used

when we want to cut someone off of a

group or an organization like when

someone loses their job for example I

finally got rid of my broken blender our

company finally got rid of that employee

who was stealing things ok so I hope

this helps you understand the expression

get rid of something thanks very much

for sending it all right onward to our

next question next question this week

comes from Mohammed all daily heigen mom

and Mohammed says hi Alicia what’s the

difference between supposedly and

supposably and can I use them

interchangeably no you supposedly

supposedly so supposedly means according

to something else this is true but we

use supposedly when we’re like a little

bit skeptical so skeptical means we

don’t quite believe something is true

like there’s a little bit of like

disbelief there like maybe someone is

lying or someone is hiding something so

there’s a feeling of suspicion but it’s

like saying according to this person

this situation is true but we might not

have all the information so supposedly

is the word that means this some

examples supposedly this is a good

company to work for supposedly he missed

his flight because of traffic so

supposedly the other word you introduced

means conceivable something we are able

to conceive of something that we can

suppose so it does not have this meaning

of according to someone plus disbelief

it doesn’t have the same meaning as

supposedly in American English speakers

will use this word but it’s a mistake

they’re intending they’re planning they

want to use the word supposedly but they

make a mistake and use supposably

instead so please use supposedly not

supposedly I hope that this helps you

thanks very much for the question all

right let’s move on to your next

question

next question comes from Mota had a

motive oh hello mother honey

well tejate says hi Alicia is it true

that we use of for something that

belongs to a thing or animal but

apostrophe s for something that belongs

to a human ah no it is not true while

yes it does sound more natural to use

apostrophe s for something that belongs

to a human it is not a rule to use of to

show possession for something that

belongs to a thing or an animal some

examples let’s compare the car’s

steering wheel came off in my hands and

the steering wheel of the car came off

in my hands my computer screen is broken

the screen of my computer is broken so

these pairs of sentences actually mean

the same thing we’re just showing

possession in like different ways I

would say that native speakers will

probably use whatever is the shortest

way to describe whatever it is they want

to say

so probably the apostrophe s pattern is

most common it’s certainly not incorrect

to use the of pattern both are fine to

use here when you’re talking about

people however it does sound much more

natural to use the apostrophe s pattern

using the of pattern to show possession

for something we own or something we

have sounds very weird when you’re

talking about people examples my friends

hair is beautiful the hair of my friend

is beautiful

your brother’s shirt is so funny the

shirt of your brother is so funny

very weird so in these pairs the second

example sentence that uses of while

grammatically correct sounds very

strange so when you’re talking about

people use the apostrophe s pattern to

talk about their characteristics or the

things that they have if you’re talking

about an object or an animal you can

choose whichever you prefer

as I said native speakers tend to use

the shortest expression possible so in

most cases that’s the apostrophe s

pattern also note that in some formal

situations when we want to make

something sound a bit more like grand or

exciting

we will use that of pattern instead of

the apostrophe s pattern like the palace

of the king instead of the king’s palace

so that’s gonna make it sound a little

bit more exciting so in those cases and

like those formal really exciting like

luxurious expensive cases you might hear

of used more often okay I hope that that

helps you thanks very much for your

question let’s move along to our next

question for this week next question

comes from BA huge hi BA huge but huge

says what’s the difference between if I

and if I will for example if I do that

and if I will do that if there’s a

difference where is it ah this is a good

question

but the answer is that we use if I and

not if I will actually this relates back

to our first question from this week’s

episode about modal verbs when you’re

making a conditional sentence that means

a sentence that uses an if clause and a

main clause we do not use a modal verb

in the if clause if you want to use a

modal verb your modal verb needs to come

in your main clause so that means if you

want to make an if sentence and you want

to use will you can use them in the same

sentence but you have to separate the

clauses that they’re in that means if i

something something something i will

something something something that’s the

pattern that you need to use you cannot

use if I will together in that way you

have to separate these two some examples

if I have the day off tomorrow I’ll go

to the movie theater if we save enough

money this month we can go to Hawaii

this summer so the second example

sentence uses a different modal verb I

used can there instead of will so just

make sure that when you’re making these

conditional sentences that you don’t use

your modal verb in your if clause use it

in your main Clause also remember you

can swap the order you can switch the

order so that its main clause first if

clause second that’s fine

the same rule still applies we can go to

Hawaii this summer

if we save enough money this month so

that’s also fine you can choose

whichever you prefer so I hope that that

helps you use if I not if I will thanks

very much for the question

that is everything that I have for this

week thank you as always for sending

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English Studies thanks very much for

watching this week’s episode of ask

Alisha and I will see you again next

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