Modal verbs: judging possibility and duty — Foreign languages, 11–13 years
Small verbs can show how certain, necessary or allowed an action is. They help you separate a fact from a guess, a request or a rule.
A modal changes the force
A modal verb sits with another verb and tells us how strongly to take the action. In English, can may show ability or permission, must shows strong duty, and might shows a possibility rather than a certainty.
Why not just state the action?
The same action can be a choice, a rule, a prediction or a request, so the listener needs more than the action itself. Modal verbs grew useful because people constantly have to show certainty, permission, ability and obligation in shared situations.
Step by step: what can means
Imagine a library sign: You can use the computers, but you must be quiet. First, can says using the computers is allowed; it does not say that you have to do it. Second, must says quietness is required, so changing the modal would change the rule’s force.
Can does not always mean ability
A learner may translate can as able to every time. That is reasonable because can often names an ability, but in Can I open the window? it asks for permission, while in It can rain it points to possibility; the situation decides the meaning.
Rules, plans and careful guesses
You meet modal meanings in messages, instructions, games and forecasts. You might say We could meet at six to suggest a plan without forcing it, or You must wear a helmet to state a safety rule clearly.
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