SHOULD WOULD COULD Test Learn modal verbs
Vanessa: Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Could, would, should, let’s talk about it.
Could I speak English?
Where would I speak English?
Should I speak English?
Could, would, should, help.
These three verbs, could, would and should
are called modal verbs and they can be tricky
for a lot of English learners.
Are they tricky for you?
Well, I have some good news.
Today, I’d like to challenge you with a could,
would, should test.
Are you ready?
I’m going to ask you eight questions using
the different forms of could, would and should
and I want you to try your best, look into
your heart and choose the correct answer.
You’ll have three seconds to choose could,
would or should and then I’ll explain hopefully
clearly why that’s the correct answer.
Number one, let’s imagine that you work for
an American company and one of your coworkers
tells you that she’s having trouble making
friends in your country.
So, you’ll want to give her some polite advice.
You say, “If you want to meet local people,
you go to a bar.”
You could go to a bar.
You would go to a bar.
You should go to a bar.
You have three seconds to choose the best
answer.
Three, two, one.
If you want to make friends, you could go
to a bar.
We use could to give a polite suggestion.
This isn’t commanding someone to do something.
We’ll talk about that with should later.
To practice this way to use could I want to
ask you a question.
If I visit your city, where could I get a
good view?
Sometimes it’s nice to go up high and look
down on the city so where could I go to get
a good view?
For example, if you came to my city, you could
go to a nearby mountaintop and look down on
the city.
You could go to a nearby mountaintop.
Number two, let’s imagine that you’re visiting
a new country and as you’re walking down the
street someone tries to steal your phone.
When you go back and tell the hotel receptionist
about this, she says, “Well, in the future,
you take your phone outside, it’s not safe.”
What’s the best answer?
You couldn’t take your phone outside?
You wouldn’t take your phone outside?
Or you shouldn’t take your phone outside?
Three, two, one.
In the future, you shouldn’t take your phone
outside.
We use should to give strong advice.
I hope you got this one correct because we
just briefly mentioned it during number one.
In fact, this situation happened to my sister
when she was living in another country.
I won’t mention where but it was her first
day in the country and she was walking down
the street and a lady, kind of crazy lady,
came up and tried to grab her necklace from
around her neck.
It wasn’t something flashy, just a little
tiny chain with a little emblem on it or something
and later when she told her friends about
that experience, her friend said, “Oh yeah,
you shouldn’t wear jewelry, especially on
that street because it’s too dangerous.”
Thankfully, the lady didn’t take her necklace.
My sister screamed and the lady ran away but
it was a little bit frightening for her.
So, her friend’s advice is really strong.
You shouldn’t wear jewelry, especially on
that street.
I just want to let you know that the verb
should is so strong that we don’t often use
it for other people.
You don’t want to tell your friends unless
it’s a dangerous situation, so you don’t want
to tell them, “You should eat your vegetables.”
It’s a little bit strange but we often use
this to talk about ourselves.
If you want to give yourself advice, it’s
no problem if it’s strong advice.
You might say, “I should wake up earlier.
I’m sleeping too late.
I should go to bed earlier because I’m having
trouble waking up.”
I should.
When you give yourself advice, this is perfectly
normal and it’s not too strong for someone
else because it’s about yourself.
Let’s go to question number three.
“You helped me with my project.
Could you help me with my project?
Would you help me with my project?
Should you help me with my project?”
Which one feels the most correct.
Three, two, one.
Actually, this is a trick question because
you have two choices.
You can say, “Could you help me with my project?”
Or, “Would you help me with my project?”
Both of these are equally correct and they
both are just a polite request.
Would you help me?
Could you help me?
The sentence structure is often could, would
plus you plus a verb plus me.
Could you pass me the paper?
Would you email me when the report is ready?
We use this all the time so it’s really natural.
Question number four, let’s imagine that we’re
talking about our childhoods and we’re talking
about something that we were capable of doing
as kids.
You could say, “When I was a child, I play
outside all day.”
I could play outside all day.
I would play outside all day.
I should play outside all day.
Which one describes a capability?
Three, two, one.
We could say, “When I was a child, I could
play outside all day.”
Here we’re using can in the past.
When we turn the verb to conjugate it in the
past, it becomes could.
So, let’s take a look at the sentence in the
present and compare it with could.
I can play outside all day.
This is describing now, the present.
But if we want to talk about the past, when
you were a child, we need to change can to
could.
When I was a child, I could play outside all
day.
It’s simply talking about your ability to
do something.
To practice this possibly new way to use could,
I want to ask you a question.
What’s something that you could do when you
were younger but you can’t do now?
Do you see how we’re comparing could do when
you were younger and can’t do now with that
present?
Great.
You might answer this by saying, “Well, when
I was younger I could stay up all night but
now I can’t.
I get tired really early.”
Or “When I was younger, I could eat sweets
and never gain weight but now that’s not possible.”
This is a good chance to practice could to
talk about your ability in the past.
Sentence number five, when I lived near the
beach I swim in the water everyday.
When I lived near the beach I could swim in
the water everyday, I would swim in the water
everyday or I should swim in the water everyday?
Which one feels the most correct?
Three, two, one.
When I lived near the beach I would swim in
the water everyday.
We can use would to talk about will in the
past.
This can be a little bit tricky so my tip
for thinking about this version of would is
to think about an action that happened regularly
in the past.
If I say, “When I lived at the beach I would
swim in the water everyday,” this is talking
about something that habitually happened.
Let’s take a look at another example.
My teacher would always give us a quiz on
Friday.
It happened regularly.
He wouldn’t study so he failed the class.
He wouldn’t regularly study.
This is something that regularly happened
so he failed the class.
I want to let you know that sometimes native
speakers mix verb tenses.
We might use the past simple plus a word that
means habitually.
So, for example, you could say, “I swam in
the ocean everyday.
My teacher always gave us a quiz.
He didn’t even study.”
These words everyday, always, ever, they mean
habitually.
It’s something that happened regularly.
So, if you want to just use the past simple,
make sure that you add one of those words
or you could simply say, “He wouldn’t study.
My teacher would give us a quiz.
I would swim,” and it already encapsulates
that idea of something that happened regularly
in the past.
Question number six, let’s imagine that you’re
leaving the office to go to lunch with your
international coworkers and know that it’s
kind of raining outside.
We call that sprinkling and you see that one
of your coworkers isn’t bringing her umbrella
so you want to kind of tell her something
politely.
You could say, “I think it’s sprinkling outside.
You bring your umbrella or you can share mine.”
You could probably bring your umbrella?
You would probably bring your umbrella?
You should probably bring your umbrella?
Which ones of these is the best?
Three, two, one.
You should probably bring your umbrella.
We already talked about should is really strong
so when we add the word probably it lessens
the intensity.
We use should probably to give polite advice.
You don’t want to say, “You should bring your
umbrella.”
Maybe a teacher might say that to a student
or a parent might say that to a child.
You’re giving strong advice but for your coworkers
you want to be a little more polite.
So, native speakers will often add these words
to lessen the intensity and probably is one
of the most common.
You could say, “We should probably make reservations
at that restaurant because it’s really busy.”
Should probably.
Sentence number seven, she didn’t want to
turn off her phone because she get an important
phone call.
She could get an important phone call?
She would get an important phone call?
Or she should get an important phone call?
Three, two, one.
She didn’t want to turn off her phone because
she could get an important phone call.
We use could to talk about possibilities in
the future.
She thinks that it’s pretty likely that she
will get a phone call so she doesn’t want
to turn off her phone.
It could rain on Sunday so let’s go hiking
today.
It’s a possibilities that on Sunday it could
rain so let’s enjoy the outdoors today while
it’s still sunny.
I have an important note.
You can substitute the word might in this
sentence and it has the exact same meaning.
Let’s take a look at those two sentences again.
She could get an important phone call.
She might get an important phone call.
It could rain on Sunday.
It might rain on Sunday.
You’ve got two choices and both of them are
correct.
Sentence number eight, this is the final sentence.
If I didn’t have air conditioning in my house,
it be very hot.
It could be very hot?
It would be very hot?
It should be very hot?
Which one feels the most correct?
Three, two, one.
If I didn’t have air conditioning in my house,
it would be very hot.
We often use would to talk about hypothetical
situations.
These are imaginary things.
It’s not real.
It’s not happening right now.
It’s hypothetical.
Sometimes these are impossible situations.
If I were a cat, I would sleep a lot.
It’s not possible for me to become a cat.
This is hypothetical.
It’s imaginary so we need to use would.
I would sleep a lot.
Or you can use would for hypothetical situations
that are not impossible but they’re just not
happening right now and that’s what our sample
sentence at the beginning was.
If I didn’t have A/C, it would be very hot.
The A/C might break and then I wouldn’t have
air conditioning and it would be really hot.
So, here this is hypothetical, it’s imaginary
because it’s not happening right now but it’s
still possible.
It could happen in the future.
So, we need to use would.
It would be very hot.
How did you do on this quiz?
Let me know in the comments what your score
was but before we go let’s review all of these
ways to use could, would and should.
Could, a suggestion.
You could go to a bar.
A polite request.
Could you help me?
Can in the past.
When I was as child, I could play outside
all day.
A possibility in the future.
It could rain tomorrow.
Would, a polite request.
Would you help me?
Will in the past.
When I lived near the beach, I would swim
every day.
A hypothetical situation.
If I ate fast food every day, I would gain
weight.
Should, strong advice.
I should wake up earlier.
Polite advice.
You should probably call him.
Feel free to check out the description below
this video so that you can see a time stamp
for when I talked about each of these versions
so that you can go back and review them.
Now I have a challenge for you.
In the comments, tell me if I visited your
city, where could I go to get a good view?
Give me a polite suggestion with could.
Or you could use another modal verb to practice
them.
Thanks so much for learning English with me
and I’ll see you again next Friday for a new
lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
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Speaker.
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Thanks so much.
Bye.