Modal Verbs

Properties
Modal auxiliaries (MA) are characterized by a set of
properties that identifies them as a class apart from
other auxiliaries.
(i)
MA have an extra shade of meaning:
Ability
Permission
Obligation
Necessity
Promise
Prediction

Properties
(ii) MA are finite verbs that do not have a Tense or an
Agreement morpheme.
(1)John can swim quite well.
*John cans swim quite well.
(2) He must write his will soon.
*He musted write his will soon.

Properties
MA have past reference, but the verbs themselves are
not marked by the past morpheme ed (see above).
(3) John can swim quite well.
(4) John could swim quite well.
(5) You may come in, he said.
(6) He told me that I might come in.

Properties
(iii) MA are followed by the bare infinitive form of the
lexical verb (except ought (to), have (to))
(7) *He can to swim quite well.
(8) They ought to know the truth about it.
They have to do something about your proposal.

Properties
(iv) MA invert with the subject of the sentence in direct
questions.
(9) May I borrow you car tomorrow?
Should I bring something along?
MA auxiliaries are negated directly by not:
(v) MA are negated directly by not
(10) You must not lie all the time.
(vi) MA do not have non-finite forms such as an
infinitive, present/past participle.
(11) *I want to can swim.
*He has musted write his will soon.

Properties
(vii) MA cannot co-occur with each other, at least not in
standard English:
(12) *I must can do it.
(viii) MA have two broad meanings:
a.deontic (root) sense: ability, permission, duty,
obligation, advisability
b. epistemic sense: possibility, impossibility, certainty,
probability

Can
Deontic can denotes (i) physical / mental ability:
(1)He can speak English.
(tie s vorbeasc englez): general, permanent
ability
(2) Look, I can swim
(Uite, pot s not)

Can
Can is used in parallel with a synonymous modal
expression that has a full range of tense forms: be able to.
Apart from replacing can in context for which the modal
has no tense form, to be able to has a specific meaning.
In certain contexts, it is possible to distinguish between the
uses.
To be able to is preferred when referring to a specific
achievement, though this context does not exclude the use
of can either:
(3) Mary has now recovered from her illness and is able to
go to school.

Can
However, can is commonly used with verbs of perception
(see, hear, smell, taste, feel) and cognitive verbs of the type
believe, resemble, understand, etc.
When used with verbs of physical perception can
actualizes the reference of the verb. In this respect, can is
like an aspectual marker (often not translated):
(4) I see the swallows flying up in the sky.
I can see the swallows flying up in the sky.
(5)Do you hear the wind howling?
Can you hear the wind howling?

Can
Deontic can referring to ability has two past forms: could
and was/were able to.
Could is used to refer to a habitual or recurrent event in the
past (generic past ability).
Was/were able to refers to the actual performance of a
single event. Compare:
(6) He could play the piano very well when he as a child
(past generic ability)
(7) When he moved closer to the painting, he was able to
see that it was a fake (single event interpretation).

Can
There is no difference between could and to be able to in
negative sentences.
Can is also often used to express sporadic ability or an
irregular pattern of behavior:
(8) She can be quite bitchy.
Foreigners can be arrogant.

Can
Ability in the future is expressed by means of either can
or the modal expression be able to in the future (will be
able to).
(9) I hope they will be able to book seats for the concert
tomorrow.
It is also possible to use can to refer to a potential future
event. An time adverbial with future reference will be
present in the sentence too:
(10) Maybe we can go fishing next week.

Can
Denotic can denotes (ii) permission.
Can is more widely employed than permission may in
colloquial English.
In formal and polite English, be it written or spoken, we
encounter the opposite. May replaces can in all
contexts.

Can
Unlike may, which is used when an authority grants
permission, the use of can suggests that you have
permission rather than I give you permission. In other
words, ther is no rule / law that prevents you from doing
something. Compare:
(11) Old man: You can park here as far as I know.
(12) Policeman: You may par here.

Can
Permission can has an additional pragmatic interpretation
in sentences like:
(13) You can forget about your holiday now.
(strong recommendation)
(14) You can jump in the lake for all I care.
(sarcastic suggestion)
In interrogations, the use of can to request permission is
simply a matter of courtesy; the listener is not usually in a
way to deny permission:
(15) Can I leave now? / Can I have the salt?

Can
Cannot, may not negate permission:
(16) You cannot leave yet.
You may not leave yet.
There is no past form for permission can except that could
is used as a past form in reported speech:
(17) He said I could leave the next day.
She said that, if he wanted, he could join us.

Can
Epistemic can refers to possibility / impossibility. It is
more frequently used in negative sentences and in
questions. Epistemic may is preferred in affirmative
contexts:
(18) He may be reading in the library.
Can he be reading in the library?
He cant be reading in the library.

Can
For past time reference, epistemic can combines with
the perfect infinitive of the lexical verb:
(19) He cant have time to hide the evidence.
He cant have had time to hide the evidence (past)
(20) Could he have spread that vicious rumor about the
twins?

Can
Epistemic can sometimes co-occurs with modal
adverbials such as possibly for emphatic reasons:
(21) He cannot possibly have done such a thing.
Can you possibly believe this?

May / Might
Deontic may is used to grant or give permission when
the speaker has the authority to do so (see comparison
to permission can above). Permission may is also
present in rules and regulations in formal English:
(1) A local health authority may, with the approval of
the Minister, receive from persons to which advice is
given under this section such charges, (if any) as the
authority consider reasonable.

May / Might
Since the example above refers specifically to the
powers a certain official is endowed with, its semantic
content accounts for the presence of permission may.
In questions, may signals the hearer's authority, not the
speaker's, being similar to must.

May / Might
When permission is denied, the speaker uses either may
not or must not if the authority prohibits some action
(2) You may not visit that family.
(3) You must not speak to her again!
For past time reference may is replaced by to be allowed
to, whereas in reported speech might is used:
(4) I was eventually allowed to go abroad to visit my
relatives.
(5) The nurse said we might speak to the patient.

May / Might
As already mentioned above, epistemic may is used to
express possibility, focusing primarily on specific
situations. For instance, a sentence like
(6)

A friend may betray you.

is interpreted more like a warning about a particular

friend. In this case the truth of the sentence or its falsity
can be verified.

May / Might
On the other hand, can basically focuses on general
situations. In a sentence like
(7) A friend can betray you
it is suggested that friends sometimes do that.
Roughly speaking, we can establish a distinction
between can and may in affirmative sentences if we
conceive of them in terms of the opposition factual vs.
theoretical possibility. Compare:
(8)
The dollar can be devalued. (It is possible to
devalue the dollar. - theoretical possibility)
(9) The dollar may be devalued. (It is possible that the
dollar is devalued. - factual possibility)

May / Might
When uttered, the second sentence does not refer to a
mere possibility that has occurred to the speaker, but to
a real contingency, such as a time of financial crisis.
!In formal English may is used to express both factual
and theoretical possibility, so the distinction persists
only in colloquial English.

May / Might
May with the sense of 'possibility' also appears in
concessive clauses in colloquial English as an
alternative to an although clause:
(10)

You may be in charge, but this doesn't give you

the right to be rude.
(11) Although you are in charge, this doesn't give you
the right to be rude.

May / Might
May / might combines with several adverbs that
emphasize the modal expression with both present and
past time reference.
(12) I might well decide to come.
I might just start to trust you.

May / Might
May / might as well expresses the idea that there is no
alternative left to a bad situation:
(13)

We might as well give up now because we don't

stand a chance if we fight against them.

As already suggested, epistemic may does not occur in

interrogative sentences, where can is preferred, and
hence, the theoretical - factual possibility opposition
disappears.