hi everyone and welcome back to love English
I'm Sabra and I'm Leila and today we have a special lesson for you on a
tricky subject so Leila do you find that your students find it easy, no modal
verbs are notoriously tricky meaning famously difficult to learn because of
their are so many modal verbs many different functions and slightly
different grammatical structures to go with them that's right so today guys
we're going to talk you through some of the most common mistakes that you guys
are making with modal verbs, so Leila, i've got a question how's your Italian coming on?
Leila has an Italian boyfriend and he gets very upset that Leila hasn't
learned Italian yet so how is your Italian um it could be better I should
really be studying a little bit more so if you have more time would you study? I
would if I had more time I would definitely study more Italian okay so do
you have a teacher no I should probably get one would you prefer to have just a
teacher for you so a private teacher? I think if I did to do that I would choose
to have a private teacher I think that way you can become a lot more fluent you
get that private tuition that focus on your errors your weaknesses your
strengths speaking of which we would like to tell
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now you've learnt Spanish online but I actually used to teach English online so
I really understand some of the benefits from the teaching perspective sure
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that special offer okay guys right shall we get started with
some modal verb I really think we should so the top five mistakes that you make
with modal verbs ah number one adding to why don't you guys do this or
adding B okay let's go through some of these modal verbs I'd say one you say
one okay okay could should would might may something else are they the top one could
would might may and we also have must and have to
yes but we're not going to focus on those today we're not going to look at
those I think perhaps the confusion comes is because we use have to and it
is used as an obligation I have to do my homework I have to call Sabrah
mm-hmm but that is the only motive really that
can be used with to - and have isn't a modal verb it's a normal verb it's just
as a normal verb yeah so all the other modal verbs do not need to repeat it
later all the other modal verbs do not need to so why add 'be' or 'to' before the
verb yeah all you need is the meaning verb for example I could go I could have
yeah I could see I could do yep she should see she should go she should be
in this case be is the meaning verb yeah so why is it that you always add be after
a modal verb well not always I'm sure some of you get it right
be is of course the infinitive verb now in this case we use be when it is the
main verb Sabrah just mentioned so I could be rich hmm
okay that would be nice that's a good one yeah rich is the adjective be is the
main verb is a state verb here however there are infinitive forms for all of
the verbs the example of she could have
she could a nice car myself she could have a nice car and so she could have
here look at that we've got she and have now ordinarily it would be she has put
that modal verb in the middle she could have yeah yeah you're right I think it's
confusing the adjective yeah for example we could say she could be
healthier she could be healthier in this case we've got an adjective if we have
an adjective we absolutely need be because adjectives need verbs so this is
the most common mistake too and be adding to and be so don't do it guys it's
a big no-no okay now number 2 confusing and the meaning of should could and
would confusing ? Yeah it's definitely confusing with
it shouldn't be it shouldn't be confusing okay let's go through these guys we've
got some sentences for you to explain the difference so example number one she
could go and study in the library example number two she should go and
study in the library example number three she would go and study in the
library if she had time hmm now let's look at this guy's she could go and
study in the library here this is about possibility she could go and study in
the library it's possible but she might choose another location for example she
might go and study at home or in a coffee shop or perhaps with friends at
college I prefer all of those options yeah me too in my library everybody is always going shhhh good now
the next one was should she should you should go
and study in the library this is a suggestion this is a recommendation
giving advice to somebody you should do something hmm
Leila you should practice your Italian more I could if I wanted to
okay the last one is a little bit more difficult as this is a conditional
sentence so would is normally used with hypothetical situations okay if you
would do something usually this is attached to a conditional clause so
usually an if clause for example she would go to the library if she had more
time if she had more time this is she doesn't have time yeah
ah second conditional yeah but if she did, so if she had more time she would go
to the library so she would go, she would be there IF she had more time and of
course would implies more certainty so she would it's more certain that she
would do this me yeah she could implies possibility of
should is advice but would is that's what would happen
yep coulda shoulda woulda so number three guys one of the trickiest modal
verbs because it has so many different functions is could now we're going to
talk you through the different functions of could could is actually used for
polite English yes us Brits are very polite and rather than saying Leila can
you do this for me if I want to be really nice to Leila and I want to
encourage how to do this nice thing for me I could say Leila could you open the
window for me I'll think about it could you make me a cup of tea of course
I could okay so it's to be polite it's rather than saying can you yes l
it's the polite form of can it's also the past form of can okay
so I can swim as in I can do it now I could swim as in the past or couldn't
mmm think about the ability that you didn't have in the past so I couldn't
swim when I was five I can swim now yeah very very true so there's a couple
of other functions of could and to understand the function you really have
to look at the context so could of course the main function is ability now
as Sabrah just mentioned could is for the past can is for now so now we can
teach English very well hopefully you agree
and you've subscribed and now but in the past so when I was twenty years old
there's no way I could have taught English no absolutely not I think I knew
what a noun an adjective and a verb was that's it, no I couldn't have taught
English in the past no absolutely not yes this is about past ability or lack
of ability now we can also use could for when we're guessing something can't we in
the past yeah yeah like Leila I think you've recently lost something
where could it have gone where could it have gone, we're thinking huh where
could it have gone where could it have possibly gone yes
guessing past deduction absolutely it can also be present deduction it could
be so where are your glasses they could be in your bag so present and past
deduction possibility there are so many uses of could pay attention to the use
of could have done, could have been, could have gone, could have lost here
we've still got the infinitive base form of the verb have but we're the past
participle in this case it is a past modal verb mmm it really does start to
get confusing I've got a feeling we might have to do a few more lessons on
this right number four is my biggest pet hate, this drives me mad if I see
it on Facebook if someone texts me this I might not answer oh it's pretty awful
should of good could of, okay I have to be honest and say that I have done this I
am guilty of this mistake yeah I'm sorry I told you I'm gonna defriend you this
is my big secret I have made this mistake and the reason is is because
could have when we speak quickly and sometimes I speak very quickly becomes
could've could've could've should've would've would've it sounds like 'of'
sounds like 've' which could be of , I know it is not, it's not it's a very weak form
of have have becomes over 've' but of course but of course when we speak very
fast in English many of the kind of non-essential verbs are actually
contracted or weakened with the schwa so yeah exactly
so I have made this mistake I'm very embarrassed as an English teacher but I
have to be honest so if you guys make this mistake you can comment below
and tell us, but don't write it, don't do it anymore!
so of course would have gone should have gone could have gone is all part of the
third conditional now if you do want to learn more about third conditional it's
only we had a lesson about third conditional oh wait we do yes
Leila's lesson is fantastic on this okay guys mistake number five the last one
this is using the present simples using the third person in the present simple
so for example she has yes but which is absolutely correct he has it has but
using this with a modal verb with a modal verb it is not correct because
actually it's not the present perfect which goes with the modal verb so you
can in the case of for example could have when use it in the present it's the
same have does not change its a meaning verb it doesn't need to go to has in the
third person so for example she could has would be incorrect, it really would
there is no third person with any of the modal verbs it's not just has though we
often see things like she could does or she could goes, no absolutely not this is a
complete overuse of that third-person rule remember modal verbs have no
third-person stop any questions about grammar Leila is amazing at grammar I'm
not perfect at grammar but maybe I only know grammar perfectionist nearly nearly
so any questions about this grammar direct them to Leila you
just don't want to answer them
also to me but yes Leila is very very good at this so you can always ask
either of us okay guys now if you feel that you should get a little bit more
practice you could of course go to italki and sign up get that special
offer and find yourself a native English teacher that's right $10 of Italki
credit if you use the link the link is here again
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