• The modal auxiliaries in English are: can, could, had better, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would.
  

For many speakers of English as a second or foreign language, modals can be quite confusing. For one thing, they express a speaker’s attitudes, or “moods.” As we all know, you need to have a high emotional and social I.Q. to be able to understand someone’s attitudes or moods in your own language let alone in a second or foreign language. For example, modals not only express that a speaker feels something is necessary, advisable, permissible, possible or probable, but they also convey the strength of these attitudes. Moreover, each modal has more than one meaning and use which further complicates the matter for students of English.

• Virtually all modals can express both logical probability and social interaction.

Understanding the context of a social situation allows you to select the appropriate modal. Let’s use the social context of a meeting. You walk into a conference room full of potential clients and announce that “the meeting may begin now”; you are granting the people in the room permission to begin the meeting. You, therefore, need to be a fairly important person in your organization to be able to grant them permission. Furthermore, the meeting is a formal one; otherwise, you would have used can instead of may for granting permission. In contrast, let’s consider another scenario. Your boss asks you when a certain report will be ready. You answer him that you’ll do your best and that “it may be ready tomorrow”; knowledge of the social situation has little or no effect on the modal you use. What you want to communicate to your boss is that the probability of the report being ready the following day is relatively low.

• The following are some key facts relating to auxiliary modals and phrasal modals:

*Modals never change their form and do not show tense; they do not take a final -ed, -ing or -s.

Correct——–He can type.    He must have been sick.      I might be leaving soon.

Incorrect——*He cans type.        *He musted been sick.     *I mighting leave soon.

 

*Modals carry the negative of a sentence by adding not or n’t :

Correct——You shouldn’t smoke in the office.

Incorrect—-*You don’t should smoke in the office.

 

*We don’t use the infinitive to after a modal which is required when two ordinary verbs follow each other in sequence. Instead, a modal is followed immediately by the simple form of a verb.

Modal + Verb                                                Verb + Verb

 

Correct—- I can go.                                    I want to go.

 

Incorrect— *I can to go.                               * I want go.

 

*Every modal has at least one phrasal counterpart, and some modals have several; notice that the phrasal modals are made up of two or more words:

Modal                                                               Phrasal Modal

 

Can, could                                                       be able to

 

Will, shall                                                    be going to, be about to

 

Must                                                                have to, have got to

 

Should, ought to                                        be to, be supposed to

 

Would (=past habit)                                         used to

 

May, might                                               be allowed to, be permitted to

 

 

*The subject-verb agreement rule does not apply to modal auxiliaries but does apply to phrasal modals (except for used to). Furthermore, all phrasal modals require that a ‘to‘ infinitive precede the main verb.

She

• is able to

• is going to

• is allowed to                      go to Jerusalem tomorrow.

• has to

• has got to

• Below is a chart of modals expressing various degrees of probability, attitude, politeness or indirectness when making predictions or requests, and giving advice.

Auxiliary & Phrasal Modals: Making Predictions must has to/has got to necessarily, very certain will fairly certain should probable, probably, likely may perhaps, maybe, quite possible could/might possible, possibly	Examples Sally: The phone’s ringing. Rita: That must be our client in the U.S. That should be our client in the U.S. That may be our client in the U.S. That could/might be our client in the U.S.
Auxiliary Modals: Making Requests will/would requests of a general nature can/could may/might specific requests for permission can/could	Examples Stacy: My computer went down again.            Could you take a look at it? Mike: Can we take a coffee break now?
Auxiliary & Phrasal Modals: Giving Advice  must strong necessity have to/have got to necessity had better/best advisability with threat of bad result should/ought to moderate advisability might/could weak advisability	Examples You must e-mail Tom for confirmation. You have to/have got to e-mail John to confirm next week’s meeting. You had better/best, should/ought to call Tom and confirm tomorrow’s appointment. You ought to talk to Nancy today and make sure all preparations for the conference are going as planned. You might/could call Tom and ask him if he received our check.

• Sites that can help you further your study of English modals:

http://esl.about.com/od/beginningenglish/ig/Basic-English/Modal-Forms.htm

http://waylink.co.uk/?page=3132

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/auxiliary.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/modals/modalintro.html

 

When you’re trying to close a deal, write a proposal, or give a presentation, your English can make all the difference.  Good grammar is essential to good speaking and writing. One area in particular that causes great difficulty for those whose English is a second or foreign language, is prepositions, 150 to be exact. Can you remember the last time you sent an e-mail knowing that it probably contained some prepositions you used incorrectly?  Did you realize that your mistakes could cause your reader to misunderstand you or become offended?  As professionals and business people, you cannot afford to make these mistakes.

 

• What are prepositions?

Prepositions connect words to other parts of a sentence and have a close relationship with the word that follows, which is usually a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the word they are referring to.

 

Some common prepositions are the following:

 

about above across after against along among around at before behind below beneath beside between beyond but

by despite down during except for from in inside into like near of off on onto out

outside over past since through throughout till to toward under underneath until up upon with within without.

 

• One of the greatest learning challenges presented by prepositions is their meaning.

He was born in the spring.

 

She threw the paper in the wastebasket.

 

The letter is written in French.

 

Although the preposition in is used in each of the above sentences, its meaning is not the same.  In the first example, in refers to time.  When was he born? He was born in the spring.  In the second example, in refers to direction, where something is going; in this case, the direction is from outside the wastebasket to the inside of the wastebasket. The last  example shows how the preposition in expresses the relationship between the noun, letter, and the word, French.

 

• Four things prepositions tell

The four things that prepositions tell are 1) where something is (location);  2) where something is going (direction);  3) when something happens (time);  4) the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and another word in a sentence.

 

Location

 

The subway is near her home.

 

They live just around the corner

 

We live within ten miles of your house

 

The town is across the river.

 

I’ll meet you at the mall.

 

Directions

 

She went to the city.

 

She jogged around the block.

 

He threw it just beyond the fence.

 

We came by the back road.

 

We went through the tunnel.

 

Time

 

I’ll wait until noon.

 

They arrived during the storm.

 

I had an appointment for two o’clock.

 

The time is ten to five.

 

We should arrive within two days.

 

Relationship

 

   Sam went to the party with Ann.

 

He is a man of ideas.

 

They never play by the rules.

 

You must choose between law and medicine as a career.

 

We went on a strict diet.

 

• sites that can further your understanding of English prepositions

 

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/prepositions-rule.htm

 

http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blgr_prep1.htm

 

http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/worksheets/grammar/business-prepositions/

 

http://www.wordpower.ws/grammar/gramch26.html

 

Do you understand the meaning of the italicized idioms in the following scenario?

An American law firm has just been notified that a deal it was negotiating with a large German drug manufacturer on behalf of one of its biggest clients, a famous American pharmaceutical, fell through. A meeting is called, and the legal team working on this deal gives a briefing on their negotiations with the Germans. The senior partner sits up straight, looks everybody in the eye and says “We need to get to the bottom of this. Why did the deal fall through? Let’s go back to the drawing board. In a nutshell, I want another proposal to take to the Germans. I want it with all the kinks ironed out, and I know all of you, when you put your heads together, can pull it off. So let’s get to work.”

• Learning Idioms is as important as learning vocabulary

If you are not an American speaker, you would have a lot of trouble understanding the meanings of the idioms in the above scenario. In order to understand a language, you must know the meaning of the idioms in that language. Students of English must learn its idioms and expressions the way they learn its other vocabulary.

• Hidden meaning

In today’s global business world, where English is the lingua franca, you are likely to come across hundreds of idioms. Idioms are everywhere and are often confusing because the meaning of the words in the idiomatic expression has little and often nothing to do with the literal meaning of the words. For example, the idiom mentioned above, pull it off, does not mean ‘take it off’ or ‘remove it. Rather, when you pull something off, you are accomplishing a difficult task or are successfully doing something difficult. If you try to figure out the meaning of an idiom word for word, you will be stumped. You need to know its hidden meaning.

• Idiom flash cards

Here’s a technique that will help you learn a few new idioms every week. On the front of a small index card, write the new idiom. On the back of the card, on the upper left hand corner, write the definition of the idiom; in the middle of the card, write a sentence using the idiom. Use one index card for each new idiomatic expression. Try to learn 10-12 new idioms a week. The cards are portable and will enable you to review the new idioms every free chance you have. Remember, the more you review, the more likely you are to store your new idioms in your long term memory.

• The following sites can help you begin your study of idioms:

• American idioms

• American business idioms

• business idioms

• 8000 American idioms