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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them to me at English class 101.com
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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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