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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all right that is everything for this
episode thanks very much for watching
and i will see you again
next time bye bye great work
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