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    Modal Verbs of Obligation

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    Liliana Gallini
    The document discusses modal verbs used to express obligation in English. It explains that "have to", "must", and "should" can be used to convey positive or negative obligation. "Have to" and "must" indicate strong obligation that may come from an outside source, while "should" conveys milder obligation or advice. It also covers the past tense forms such as "had to" and "should have" as well as differences between terms like "mustn't" and "don't have to".

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    Modal Verbs of Obligation

    Uploaded by

    Liliana Gallini
    11 views2 pages
    The document discusses modal verbs used to express obligation in English. It explains that "have to", "must", and "should" can be used to convey positive or negative obligation. "Have to" and "must" indicate strong obligation that may come from an outside source, while "should" conveys milder obligation or advice. It also covers the past tense forms such as "had to" and "should have" as well as differences between terms like "mustn't" and "don't have to".

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    modal-verbs-of-obligation

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    The document discusses modal verbs used to express obligation in English. It explains that "have to", "must", and "should" can be used to convey positive or negative obligation. "Have to" and "must" indicate strong obligation that may come from an outside source, while "should" conveys milder obligation or advice. It also covers the past tense forms such as "had to" and "should have" as well as differences between terms like "mustn't" and "don't have to".

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    11 views2 pages

    Modal Verbs of Obligation

    Uploaded by

    Liliana Gallini
    The document discusses modal verbs used to express obligation in English. It explains that "have to", "must", and "should" can be used to convey positive or negative obligation. "Have to" and "must" indicate strong obligation that may come from an outside source, while "should" conveys milder obligation or advice. It also covers the past tense forms such as "had to" and "should have" as well as differences between terms like "mustn't" and "don't have to".

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Modal Verbs of Obligation

    We can use 'have to + infinitive', 'must + infinitive' and 'should + infinitive' to express


    obligation (something you have to do).

    Present Positive Negative

    have to / strong obligation (possibly from no obligation


    don't have to outside) I don't have to work on Sundays.

     Children have to go to school.  You don't have to eat anything


    (sometimes 'have got to') you don't like.

    must / mustn't strong obligation (possibly based on negative obligation


    the speaker's opinion)  You mustn't smoke here.
     I must study today.

    should / shouldn't mild obligation or advice mild negative obligation or advice


     You should save some money.  You shouldn't smoke so much.

    *Be careful about the difference between mustn't and don't have to!


    Mustn't means it's not allowed, or it's a bad idea:
     You mustn't eat so much chocolate, you'll be sick.

    Don't have to means you don't need to do something, but it's fine if you want to do it:
     I don't have to get up early at the weekend (of course, if I want to get up early, that's
    fine, but I can stay in bed if I want).

    1 © www.perfect-english-grammar.com
    May be freely copied for personal or classroom use.
    Past Positive Negative

    had to / didn't have to obligation in the past no obligation in the past


     I had to wear a school  We didn't have to go to school
    uniform when I was a child. on Saturdays.

    must* changes to 'had to' -

    should have + pp / a past action which didn't


    a past action which didn't happen:
    shouldn't have + pp happen: the advice / regret is too
    the advice / regret is too late
    late

     You should have gone to bed


     You shouldn't have taken that
    earlier, now you have missed
    job, it was a bad idea.
    the train.

    *Remember 'must have done' is a modal verb of deduction or speculation, not obligation in the
    past. For example: Julie must have left. Her coat's not here.

    2 © www.perfect-english-grammar.com
    May be freely copied for personal or classroom use.

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