• each modal has a basic meaning of its own; different meanings may be associated with forms of the infinitive – simple and perfect (both in the active and passive forms), continuous and perfect continuous;

• In general, modals cannot occur with each other in the verb phrase.

Once the new reporting structure is in place, analysts said investors should be able to compare the growth and profit margins in Nokia’s new businesses with the company’s well-established business of churning out mobile phones. (should is a modal verb; be able to is a modal phrase)

After could / might / must / ought to / should and would, not is often shortened to n’t and is added to the modal. may not is not shortened at all. shall not, will not, can not are shortened to shan’t, won’t, can’t.

You couldn’t get suppliers. You couldn’t get space to let. You couldn’t get people to work at normal salaries.

They may not be fully comfortable with him so much as impressed by his ability to stay afloat.

Every job is different, every character’s different. That’s what makes it interesting. Otherwise, you wouldn’t keep doing it.

Bankers say the scale of the debt will not ease investor appetite.

There is a danger that the new technology won’t live up to expectations.

NOTE	In orthographical representations of the spoken language, modals and fixed idiomatic expressions often occur as reduced forms: gotta, oughtta, etc.: Oh, shit, I gotta go into this meeting. So, anyway, see ya. The European Union is a basket case, but you’ve gotta love it.

Although modals cannot combine with tense, they can combine with marked aspect and voice:

• with passive voice;

It should be pronounced like a zee.

In these circumstances, Mr Major might be asked to stay on.

NOTE	Modals and modal-like verbs used in passive sentences are followed by be and the past participle of the main verb. These forms are called ‘modal passives’. The man could be identified with his passport. The man was able to be identified with his passport.

• with perfect aspect;

The way in which he did so might have been inappropriate, but if so, one could expect the voters to penalize him at the polls, as in fact they did.

Hakan should have been given a yellow card for his outrageous dive, or that Recber ought to have been sent off for his wild challenge on Dyer.

• with progressive aspect.

Perhaps that is why just when things might have been getting too earthy.

Depardieu will be traveling back and forth from France to Norway to film “I Am Dina” on a set in the countryside.

Semi-modals and modal-like verbs

There are fixed idiomatic phrases with functions similar to those of modals. Certain verbs or expressions can be used with the same meaning as modals. These are: had better (= should), have (got) to (= must), be able to (= can), be supposed to, be going to, etc.

I’ve got to the library.

Clerks had better tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

All that, promised the king, is going to change.

Modal-like verbs are two-word or three-word helping verbs which have very similar meaning to modals, but they have different forms. For example, the modal would is often combined with like to or rather to form a modal-like verb. The modal-like verb would like to means want to. The modal-like would rather means prefer to.

I would like to go to the dance tonight.

I would rather go to the dance tonight than go to a movie.

Many of the semi-modals can be marked for tense and person, and can occur as non-finite forms. They can sometimes co-occur with a central modal verb or another semi-modal.

Women will have to contend with men.

The future government will have to tackle a thornier issue.

However, T-Online is one business that may have to stay on the prowl.

And whoever did so would be able to enjoy, immediately, all of the economic benefits of freer trade.

The semi-modals have to, need (to), and be going to can occur in series following another modal or semi-modal.

Modal + have to is relatively common, esp. in combination with volition / prediction modal (will have to, would have to, may have to, shall have to, might have to, be going to have to, could have to, must have to, need to have to, used to have to).

In a column I wrote last summer about my teenage son’s first job, I promised in print to help him open a Roth. And now, I’ll have to do it.

Again, those of us who’ve for years argued for the world to do something about Castro will have to take the good with the bad.

Modal + need to is restricted primarily to academic prose and fiction (will need to, would need to, may need to, be going to need to, can need to, might need to, must need to, shall need to, should need to).

Yes, you may need to write off some of the money owed as bad debt.

I could not bear to forsake the world in which you still lived and might need me... (G. Eliot. The Mill on the Floss)

I had my twenty-dollar gold piece and some other money, but I reckoned I better save it, because there ain't no telling how soon you are going to need it, away from home and amongst strangers, that way. (M. Twain. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

I shall need a long rest. (Ch. Dickens. Little Dorrit)

Modal + be going to (rare) can be attested only in fiction (may be going to, might be going to).

«I have some hope,» said Arthur, as they walked on together, «that we may be going to the same place, Mr. Doyce.» (Ch. Dickens. Little Dorrit)

I saw your lips move. I fancied you might be going to tell me I ought to be more attentive... (J. Austen. Mansfield Park)

There are a large number of other relatively fixed expressions with meanings similar to the modal auxiliaries: want to, be obliged to, be likely to, be willing to, etc.

I want to do something in interior design.

People here are curious and I don’t want to go on a holiday and turn my brain off. Lazing around a beach is not fun, interacting is fun.

The game is unlikely to be the answer to the company’s prayers.

But the search for who is to blame is not likely to end there.

Just as he is willing to rethink his own role in order to achieve reunion, he said, he is willing to rethink “the specific vocation” of the “Uniates.”

At the press conference he was unwilling to disclose the names of those who had sent ’black ball’ to his ministry.

Structurally, modal auxiliaries resemble the auxiliaries be, have and do in some ways and differ completely from them in others.