Identifying Modal Auxiliaries

II MOP, M SCHEME
IV SEMESTER, ENGLISH II

I.Pick out three modal auxiliaries from the following passages:

1.He is a versatile genius. He can write poems, dramas and novels. Few years back, he could even make a painting for competition. I think, he may win the Nobel Prize for his recent book.

2.I am sure, he will attend our party this evening.  He hasn’t yet replied to my mail.  So he would probably seek his apology for that. I may not be flexible then.

3.You ought to take care of your parents. They would suffer a lot without money from you. I felt, I should tell you about this and the rest is left to you.

4.“What shall we do now?” asked Ravi.  “We can do nothing in this case.  Whatever we do might go wrong. So it is better to wait and see” suggested Prabha.

5.He used to stand in queue before ATM for several days. Actually he need not waste his time this way.  He might have tried cashless payments online through several ways, if he had been aware of them.

6.You must have brought your hall ticket. What is more, you dare to argue with me.  How can you expect me to help you?

Answer:
1.Can, could, may
2.Will, would, may
3.Ought to, would, should
4.Shall, can, might
5.Used to, need, might
6.Must, dare, can

Guidelines:
Modal Auxiliaries:
The auxiliaries(24) in English can be divided into two : 1. Primary Auxiliaries (11) and Modal Auxiliaries(13).

The Primary Auxiliaries: (11)
Be forms: am, is, are, was, we’re
Have forms: Have, has, had
Do forms: Do, does, did

Modal Auxiliaries (13)
Can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, must, dare, need, used to and  ought to are the modal auxiliaries in English.

The main function is to express the mood and hence they are named as modal auxiliaries. They are generally used to express ability, duty, possibilities, probability and  offer suggestion, advice and warning.