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6.5.1: Modals of Obligation and Prohibition

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    257468
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    Grammar Focus - Modals of Obligation and Prohibition

    Picture-no-smoking.png

    Modals of obligation are used to talk about permission and prohibition.

    Modal Verbs

     

    Modal verb

    Explanation

    Examples

    must

    required by law or rules

    Students must arrive to class on time.

    Drivers must come to a full stop at a stop sign

    must not

    prohibited, forbidden

    Students must not share answers on the test.

    Drivers must not exceed the speed limit.

    have to

    obligations 

    Students usually have to do homework.

    I have to cook dinner for my family tonight.

    had to

    past obligations

    Yesterday, I had to drive my grandma to her doctor's appointment.

    I had to write three essays in my class last semester.

    have got to ('ve got to)

    obligations (usually informal)

    I've got to hurry! I don't want to be late.

    We've got to find a hotel for our vacation.

    don't have to

    not required, optional

    Students don't have to go to school on Sundays.

    I don't have to take another English class next semester.

    should

    recommended, advised

    You should leave early if the traffic is heavy.

    Parents should encourage their children.

    shouldn't

    not recommended, not advised

    You shouldn't eat that food. It is not fresh.

    We shouldn't take the freeway today. There is a terrible accident.

    We often use have to to talk about external obligations which are not our choice (You have to pay taxes). However you are more likely to see must used in formal situations when we refer to rules and laws.

    Have to, a semi-modal, expresses necessity (strong advisability). However, it is unlike other modals in its use of do as an auxiliary and its use of an infinitive complement. Negating the modal results in a different meaning from negating the infinitive phrase.

    Have got to,  is usually used in informal situations with a contraction (We've got to go.) It is not usually used in negative forms or questions.

    · The past tense of must is had to. The past tense of have to is also had to.

    Have to is never contracted. "I have to go to work" NOT "I've to go to work"

    WikipediaText English for B2 students Grammar • Unit 10 is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

    You can find the source here: https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=English_for_B2_Students/Unit_10&veaction=edit&section=3


    This page titled 6.5.1: Modals of Obligation and Prohibition is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Allyson Marceau.

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