Meanings of modal verbs
The main function of modal verbs is to allow the speaker or writer
to express their opinion of, or their attitude to, a proposition. These
attitudes can cover a wide range of possibilities including
obligation,
asking for and giving permission, disapproval, advising, logical
deduction, ability, possibility, necessity, absence of necessity
and so on. The problem with each modal verb is that it can have more
that one meaning and the interpretation of a particular modal will
depend heavily on the context in which it is being used. The following
examples should help to illustrate this point.
- It might take more than a week. (possibility)
- You might have told me about it! (showing disapproval)
- He must take his medicine three times a day. (obligation)
- He must be French. (logical deduction)
- I can't lift that suitcase by myself. (ability)
- That can't be the right answer. (logical deduction)
- May I look at the questions now? (asking for permission)
- They say it may snow tomorrow. (possibility)
You probably also noticed from the examples that notions like
permission and
possibility
can be expressed using different modal verbs - this, of course, only
serves to complicate matters further since one modal verb can have more
that one meaning, and one meaning can be expressed by more than one
modal verb. In the space that we have available here it would be
impossible to cover all the meanings of each of the modals, so as
examples we will look at some of the ways that
obligation and
logical deduction can be expressed.
