Modal auxiliary verbs are verbs that cannot stand alone in a sentence; they must be followed by a main verb which is always in the infinitive e.g I wish you would help your father in the farm She had better finish her work before 10:00 It expresses: • Conditional mood e.g if you visited you grandmother, you would know that she is ill • Polite request e.g would you open the window, please? • wish e.g I wish you would stop smoking? • Invitation e.g Would you like to come to my birthday? • opinion e.g I thought it would be nice to offer you a new watch It expresses: • advice e.g You are coughing, you should see a doctor • expectations e.g Don’t call her now, she should be sleeping • Be supposed to e.g What are you doing here? You should be in your classroom “Had better/‘d better” is used to express a strong advice “had better” can be replaced by “ought to” or “should” or “if I were” Example: they had better start revising Their exam will be tomorrow Short form: of “had better” is “’d better” You are very pale; you’d better see a doctor Negative form: of “had better” is “had better not …” They had better not say that the fight against bribery is not their business “Had better” has a past form but the meaning it carries is present or future “Had better” is always followed by a verb in the infinitive without “to” Example: you’d better see a doctor for your toothache I had better not go out now it’s stormy Exercise 1: Rewrite the following sentences by replacing the expressions in bold by a modal (make the necessary changes): 1- I expected to find peter working by that time 2- I’m inviting you to join us for our wedding party 3- I want you to help me with my grammar exercises 4- You are an excellent student; I advise you to pay more attention to your spelling mistakes 5- It is 17:30 If we don’t harry up, we will not catch the 17:45 train 6- I advise you to stop smoking; it may cause you a cancer 7- Go and pay your electricity bill otherwise they will send you a late fee 8- She is getting too fat I hope that she will go on a diet someday Exercise 2: Fill in the gaps with the appropriate modal: 1-It’s a lovely evening, you like to come and have dinner with me on the terrace 2-If I were you, I …… not buy that dress It’s too expensive 3-You …… not speak to your mother in that way It’s too rude 4-The earth is suffering from global warming, people …… start thinking of some solutions to this ecological problem 5-I’m not really sure where her flat is It …… Be on the third floor 6-I …… Come, if I knew that she was in the party 7-She is so talkative I wish she …… become quieter 8-When someone is driving, he …… Keep his eyes on the road 9- Friends ……… help each other Exercise1: 1- Peter should be working by that time 2- Would you like to join us for our wedding party? 3- Would you help me with my grammar exercises, please? 4- You are an excellent student; you should pay more attention to your spelling mistakes 5- It is 17:30 We’d better harry up to catch the 17:45 train 6- You’d better stop smoking, it may cause you a cancer 7- You’d better pay your electricity bill otherwise they will send you a late fee 8- She is getting too fat I wish she would go on a diet Exercise Fill in the gaps with the appropriate modal: 1-It’s a lovely evening, would you like to come and have dinner with me on the terrace 2-If I were you, I would not buy that dress It’s too expensive 3-You should not speak to your mother in that way It’s too rude 4-The earth is suffering from global warming; people had better start thinking of some solutions to this ecological problem 5-I’m not really sure where her flat is It should be on the third floor 6-I would come, if I knew that she was in the party 7-She is so talkative I wish she would become quieter 8-When someone is driving, he had better keep his eyes on the road 9- Friends should help each other