11 August 2014

Primary and modal auxiliary verbs, probability of modals

Lexical verbs function as the main element of a verb phrase. They can stand on their own as a predicate and define actions and states. They have different forms signalling tense (present and past), aspect (perfect, progressive) and voice (active and passive).
Auxiliary verbs are function words. They are added to a main verb to help build verb phrases. Modal auxiliaries express modality - possibility, necessity, prediction and volition (will, can, shall, may, must, would, could, should, might). Primary verbs are both lexical and auxiliaries. They show how the main verb is to be understood (was thinking, have thought).


Primary auxiliary verbs
DO
Do is auxiliary as well as lexical verb (What have you been doing today?). The auxiliary do:
1. It assists in forming the negation of all the lexical verbs in the Present Simple and the Past Simple (I don’t understand it. He didn’t see me.)
2. It assists in forming the question of all the lexical verbs in the Present Simple and Past Simple (Do you understand? Did he see you?)
The question is formed without do if the question word is the subject of the clause with interrogative pronouns who, what, which, how many, etc. (Who saw you? How many people help you?) But with question words as objects, do must be used. (Who did you see)
3. In a positive to emphasize the lexical verb (But I did tell him all.)
4. Do stands for lexical verbs in short answers (Yes, I do.) or is used to avoid the repetition of the same verb (He left school one year earlier than I did.) or replaces lexical verbs in tag questions (She works in a lab, doesn’t she?)

HAVE
Have is both lexical (I have a car = possession) and auxiliary as:
1. Used in the Present Perfect and Past Perfect (He has just come. Had not known about it.)
2. Have + to + infinitive means MUST and becomes modal (I have to go.)
3. Auxiliary do with have is used with the lexical have if it denotes habitual or repeated actions (Do you often have headaches? But! Have you got a headache now?) and in the construction to have something done (She had her hair cut.)
BE
The lexical and auxiliary verb BE is unique among English verbs in having eight different forms (be, am, is, are, will, been, being…).
1. In its lexical meaning (to exist) the verb be is frequently used in there is/there are constructions 2. The construction be + present infinitive expresses the modal meaning of necessary or possible action (Such people are to be found everywhere. = Takoví lidé se najdou všude.) and with the Past tense the intended action (The conference was to have taken place in January = Měla se konat, ale nekonala se.)
3. Used as copula in subject predicates (He is a dentist. I was in the cinema.)
5. As auxiliary verb assists in forming continuous tenses and the passive voice. (What are you laughing at? One of the pictures was damaged.)

Modal auxiliary verbs
Modals have the same form in all persons in both singular and plural and they have no infinite form with -to. Infinites and other missing forms are expressed otherwise:
can – be able to               may – be allowed to      
must – have to, be obliged to, be forced to, be compelled to

CAN/COULD
1. Ability (He can speak English. I never could play the piano.)
2. Permission (Can I try it?)
3. Possibility (Anybody can make mistakes. We could go to the concert.)

MAY (present tense) and MIGHT (present conditional)
1. Permission (You may borrow my car if you like.)
2. Possibility (The road may be blocked. We might go to the concert.)
3. To express wishes (May he live long!)
  

SHALL
1. Intention of the speaker (I shan’t be long. We shall overcome.)
2. Insistence (You shall do as I say. He shall be punished. You shall not kill.)

SHOULD
1. Advice, suggestion (You should do as he says.)
2. Distant possibility (If you should change your mind, please let us know.)
3. 1st person Conditional in BrE (We should love to go abroad if we had the chance.)
4. After certain expressions (It is odd that you should say this to me.)

WILL
1. Willingness (He’ll help you if you ask him.)
2. Polite requests (Will you open the window?)
3. Future tenses (I will write as soon as I can.)
4. Prediction about a present action with Future Continuous (John will still be reading his paper. John asi pořád ještě čte.)
5. Prediction about the result of a past action with Future Perfect (The guests will have arrived by now.)

WOULD
1. Polite requests (Would you excuse me?)
2. Characteristic activity in the past (Every morning he would go for a long walk.)
3. The second conditional (He would smoke too much if I didn’t stop him.)
4. Probability (That would be his mother. = patrně bude)

 MUST
1. Obligation (You must be back by 10 o’clock. (In the past: He had to be back by 10 o’clock.)
2. Prohibition (You mustn’t come late.)
3. Logical necessity (There must be a mistake.)
Note! I must go. =  I am obliged to go and I want to go. / I have to go. = I’d rather stay here but the outer circumstances force me to go.

OUGH TO

1. Strong advice, almost obligation (You ought to start at once.) In AmE ought has occasionally the bare infinitive in negative sentences and questions (You oughtn’t smoke so much.

Marginal modal auxiliaries
USED
Used always takes to-infinitive and occurs only in the Past Tense to expresses a repeated action in the past (He used to earn a lot of money. He didn’t use/usedn't to earn so much as he does now. Did he used to go there?)

DARE and NEED
1. As a lexical verb it means "odvážit se" and "potřebovat" (I don't need a new one. She dared to go there.)
2. As modal auxiliaries they are used with bare infinitive (She needn’t rewrite it, need she? Need she rewrite it? He daren’t ask.)

The probability of the modals
High probability (It must be raining over there. It must have rained over there.)
Low probability (It may be raining over there. It may have rained over there.)
Very low probability (It might be raining over there. It might have rained over there.)

High improbability (It can’t be raining over there. It can’t have rained over there.)

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