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Look up Appendix:English modal verbs in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
The English modal auxiliary verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility and obligation).[a] They can most easily be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participles or plain forms[b]) and by their lack of the ending ‑(e)s for the third-person singular.[3]
The central English modal auxiliary verbs are can (with could), may (with might), shall (with should), will (with would), and must. A few other verbs are usually also classed as modals: ought, and (in certain uses) dare, and need. Use (/jus/, rhyming with "loose") is sometimes classed so as well. Other expressions, notably had better, share some of their characteristics.
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^Huddleston & Pullum (2002), p. 104.
^Aarts (2011), pp. 83–85.
^Quirk et al. (1985), [page needed].
and 28 Related for: English modal auxiliary verbs information
or advice. Modalverbs generally accompany the base (infinitive) form of another verb having semantic content. In English, the modalverbs commonly used...
so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliaryverbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a participle, which respectively...
regular forms in writing. For the verb be, modalverbs and other auxiliaries, see § Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs below. The form described in this...
with auxiliaryverbs, such as was going and would have gone The uses considered include expression of tense (time reference), aspect, mood, modality and...
verbs (such as the modalauxiliaries) lack most inflection. Irregular verbs in Modern English include many of the most common verbs: the dozen most frequently...
up auxiliaryverb or Appendix:Englishmodalverbs in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. This is a list of Englishauxiliaryverbs, i.e. helping verbs, which...
not easy in English, and there is no clear boundary between the two nonfinite verb forms. Auxiliaryverbs typically occur as finite verbs, but they also...
the tree) The past participles of modal and auxiliaryverbs have the same form as their infinitives. But if these verbs are used alone, without an infinitive...
characteristics of a modalauxiliary and evolved a new past form (dared), distinct from the modal durst. The perfect of the verbs had not yet been standardised...
tendency for modal adverbs to follow auxiliaryverbs but precede lexical verbs, as shown in (5–8) with the adverbs in bold and the verb underlined. That's...
formed around a verb in the present or preterite form. In clauses with auxiliaryverbs, they are the finite verbs and the main verb is treated as a subordinate...
order to distinguish phrasal verbs from verb phrases composed of a verb and a collocated preposition. Others include verbs with prepositions under the...
constructions, a modalverb or a certain type of auxiliaryverb also may function as a finite verb. Modalverbs and auxiliaryverbs mark the abovementioned...
a limited number of verbs, or if it requires the specification of more than one principal part (as with the German strong verbs), views may differ as...
forms of verbs, ending in -ing, are always regular. In English, these are used as verbs, adjectives, and nouns.) In the case of modalverbs the present...
like in the case of put.) Certain auxiliaryverbs are modalverbs (such as can, must, etc., which defective verbs lacking an infinitive form or any truly...
preterite-present verbs function as modalverbs (auxiliaries which are followed by a bare infinitive, without "to" in English, and which convey modality) and indeed...
same modalverbs are also often used with present rather than future reference. For details of their meanings and usage, see Englishmodalverbs. Questions...
along with the modalverbs and the other auxiliaries, form a distinct class, sometimes called "special verbs" or simply "auxiliaries". These have different...
Adyghe verbs Arabic verbs Ancient Greek verbs Basque verbs Bulgarian verbs Chinese verbsEnglishverbs Finnish verb conjugation French verbs German verbs Germanic...
they appear. Light verbs, however, are not auxiliaryverbs, nor are they full verbs. Light verbs differ from auxiliaryverbs in English insofar as they do...
Bulgarian verbs are the most complicated part of Bulgarian grammar, especially when compared with other Slavic languages. Bulgarian verbs are inflected...
is typical of verbs in virtually all languages, Spanish verbs express an action or a state of being of a given subject, and like verbs in most Indo-European...
21st; in British English its use also decreased, but later and not so drastically. The subjunctive is not generally used after verbs such as hope and...
in English strong verbs with write-wrote-written and drive-drove-driven sharing root consonants despite differing vowels and meanings. Hebrew verbs are...
the verb, whereas most modern European languages do so using appropriate auxiliaryverbs in combination with past participles. Ancient Greek verbs had...
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