Modal Verb Patterns Perfect English Grammar

hi everybody welcome back to top words

my name is alicia and today we’re going

to talk about

10 modal verb patterns before we start

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can could you

can could you okay so this first one is

can you or could you blah blah so a lot

of people ask what’s the difference

between

can you and could you which one should i

use if you’re making a request

basically you can use either one if you

want to sound a little bit more polite

i would recommend you use could you so

if you’re talking to your friend or your

family member

you can say like can you help me with

this or can you help me make dinner or

can you buy some milk at the store or

can you please fix your hair it looks

weird

if you want to be a little bit more

polite like when you’re talking to

someone at work or talking to someone

you don’t know so well

you can use could you blah blah so could

you please send me that file or could

you please tell me where the restroom is

you can use those for more polite

situations

both of them are totally correct both of

them are fine to use in most everyday

situations so it’s up to you

to decide how polite you want to sound

okay example sentence

can you help me move this sofa

i may might i may

might okay may and might

this presents another very very common

question when you want to talk about

your own plans as in this example

sentence with i may

or i might we have the same

feeling yes they both express something

we’re not

sure about an upcoming plan that we’re

not sure about

but in american english today might

tends to be

more commonly used in everyday

conversation

may tends to sound a little bit more

polite a little bit more formal

when we’re talking with our friends we

say i might go to the beach this weekend

or i might go to a party

to make it negative we say i might not

do that or i might not go to dinner

after all i feel kind of sick

so might tends to be used more in

everyday conversation

again just as with can and could may and

might are both completely correct

they’re both fine to use it’s just up to

you to choose how polite you want to

sound

okay examples i might take a day off

next week

what should i what should i

okay this one focuses on the word should

we use should to ask for advice and

to give advice generally so we tend to

use this word

in kind of close situations you’re

asking somebody for help maybe

you’re asking for someone’s opinion so

you can say what should i do

if you are having trouble in an everyday

life situation

or you can use this to make a more

complex sentence

like what should i get for dinner

tonight like to ask for someone’s

opinion

or maybe you can change as well the eye

to something else to another person

what should he do or what should she do

or what should they do

you can change that i in the sentence to

ask about someone’s opinion

regarding a third person regarding

another party

so this is a very basic sentence yes

what should i

this pattern but you can change it with

these very very simple small things

to ask about others outside yourself

another example

what should i make for dinner i think

you should

i think you should okay so here again

we’re seeing

should used in this case we’re seeing i

think

you should so that means we are seeing

an advice

pattern being presented here this is

something you can use to kind of softly

and maybe a little politely express your

opinion about something

in this case i think you should is

followed by a verb

i think you should verb i think you

should go i think you should quit

i think you should stop eating so much

junk food you’re giving some kind of

advice to the listener

you can make this less polite by

dropping i think

so you make the sentence you should you

should do this you should do that

that will make the sentence less polite

including i think at the beginning of it

makes it sound a little bit softer so it

sounds a bit nicer a little bit kinder

examples i think you should start

exercising

shall we shall we

okay shall we this is another very

common question

lots of people like to ask about the

difference between shall we

and will we they are very different you

cannot use them interchangeably

shall we is a polite way to suggest you

do something

maybe you’ve seen this in a romantic

movie like shall we dance

or shall we go for a drink something

like that

it sounds kind of polite a little bit

nice to say

shall we instead of do you want to they

have the same meaning though but shall

we sounds a little bit more formal

so shall we and will we are sometimes

confused by learners

will we is quite different will we is

asking a question about a future

plan like will we have to pay for this

later

or will we be in time for the movie

shall we

is like suggesting you do something with

another person

will we is saying something like oh my

gosh

i’m not sure about this future plan that

we have together

is it true is it going to happen that’s

the difference between the two

oh another point about this shall we

tense we tend to use

shall we or shall i we don’t really use

shall he or shall she so often we tend

to use it for our own activities that’s

why you’ll see

shall we or shall i used more

uh this is also true for an expression

like shall you you don’t see that

shall is used together with some other

person

example shall we visit your parents for

christmas

if i i would

if i i would this is a very common

pattern

if i something i would a lot of people

like to use this an expression like if i

were you

i would so they like to ask should i use

were

should i use was in a pattern like if i

were you or

if i was you the correct answer is if i

were you

i would we use was in a pattern like if

i was something something something

to talk about a possible past situation

when you want to talk about something

that is not true now so an

unreal situation now like being you

which is not true

not possible use were if i were you

it’s not possible so please use were in

that case

you can of course use this in other

situations if i

something i would for example if i lost

my job i would find a new one or if i

won the lottery

i would buy a house so you can use verbs

in this pattern as well

just keep in mind the verb form that you

use

if i won the lottery or if i

ate a big dinner we’re using simple past

tense in this verb form so please make

sure not to use like

simple present tense or don’t use an ing

verb form here

if i simple past tense i would blah blah

for example if i had a bigger house i

would have dinner parties

so final point here remember when you

use this pattern to express something

that is not true

not real like in my example sentence if

i won the lottery

i would buy a house make sure you’re

using the correct

verb form after would too if i

won the lottery past tense verb i would

buy

a house the verb in the main clause is

in the infinitive form so make sure that

your verbs match

this is a good one to study grammar with

okay onward

you must not you must

not okay here we see a rule

must is commonly used to express rules

we don’t use

must so much in everyday conversation

because it tends to sound

quite strong you will however see must

used in official rules like if you’re

traveling you’re going to like the

airport

maybe you are seeing some rules on a

sign somewhere

uh or you’re seeing i don’t know maybe

you’re reading a contract

something official that’s where you tend

to see must used

we use must in everyday conversation for

super super strong

things like you must do this or you must

not do that maybe your doctor gives you

some advice for example

so in general you don’t see this in

everyday conversation so much

but you should know when it means that

you should take something seriously like

in an official rule like you must not

smoke in this area

or you must stop eating junk food or

you’re going to get

very very unhealthy or you must not

forget your mother’s birthday that’s

actually very true

that’s a very strong situation you must

not forget your mother’s birthday

you must not disappoint your mother

exactly exactly so

these are all very very important and

strong things that we need to

communicate we do that with

must you can also of course change your

subject to he

or she or they as well so that you’re

not just talking to

you the listener or the reader but you

can use it to express something

another person must or must not do

example passengers must show their

passports to immigration officers

this must not be this must not be

okay this use of must sometimes is a bit

challenging the key with this use of

must

is the use of must with b

so when we use must and b together

we’re talking about a possible condition

or a possible state

in this example we see it in the

negative this must not be

something something something so we use

this in a situation like for example

you’re looking for a place you’re using

the gps on your phone

and you come to this place and you think

this seems correct

but my the restaurant i’m looking for is

not

here we might say this must not be

the right place that means this is

probably

not the right place or this expression

describes a very high chance that

something is

not true in the negative when we use it

in the positive

for example oh this must be the right

place i found the restaurant

it means there’s a high possibility i am

correct

so this use of must is when we use it

with

b to make the negative must not be to

make the positive

this must be so you can use it to talk

about places

you can also use it to talk about

conditions so for example like when you

look at answers

on a test you might think to yourself

hmm this must be

the correct answer or this must be

correct you can use both a noun

and an adjective after this to express

that high or

low condition of something being true

example

this must not be the right place it’s

closed

that can’t be that can’t be

okay that can’t be this is the reduced

form of

that cannot be this means it’s

impossible so

some condition or some state is

impossible

this is different from must not be

because must not be

expresses that there’s a very very low

chance that something is true

that can’t be expresses that something

is completely impossible there is zero

percent chance that something is true

so for example if i think i see my

co-worker at the coffee shop but i know

my co-worker is at the office

i might think to myself that can’t be

risa

she’s at the office today maybe she

looks just like my co-worker

but i know it’s not possible i expressed

that with

can’t be this is quite different from

that must not be

because must not be expresses there’s

still a little bit of a chance that that

is true

can’t be expresses that it is completely

impossible

interestingly we don’t really use this

in the positive form much we don’t say

this can be correct we tend to say

this could be correct we don’t really

use this this can be

pattern so if you want to express

something as impossible

completely impossible use this can’t be

also couldn’t be is acceptable here but

when you want to express that something

is just

possible use could be not can’t be

interesting point

okay example that can’t be the right

file

the data is totally different

we shouldn’t we shouldn’t

okay so here we’re using should again

this time

in the negative shouldn’t is the reduced

form should not becomes

shouldn’t in this case we’re using it

with the subject we

meaning something you and i together

should

not do so again this is an advice

pattern

we should not do something of course you

can make this positive by simply

removing not

after should we should blah blah blah so

we shouldn’t

steal we shouldn’t disrespect our

mothers we shouldn’t forget our mother’s

birthdays right this is the important

point from today’s lesson i think

uh we shouldn’t so when you want to

express something that’s not a good idea

something that you don’t think you as a

group should do

you can express that with we shouldn’t

verb

in this case also please remember you

follow the verb with the infinitive form

we shouldn’t do something we shouldn’t

eat we shouldn’t talk we shouldn’t

forget

so don’t use like an ing form don’t use

the past tense form here

please follow should this use of should

the advice form

with the simple infinitive form example

we shouldn’t think too much about this

all right that is everything for this

episode that was 10

modal verb patterns that you can use

what did you think you can let us know

in the comments

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episode thanks very much for watching

and i will see you again

next time bye bye great work

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