The term "modal verb" is a grammatically correct phrase and can be used in written English.
It refers to a type of auxiliary verb that is used to express a modality, such as possibility, obligation, or permission. Example: "I should clean my room before my parents get home." In this sentence, "should" is a modal verb expressing obligation.
Deontic modal values (obligation) can be expressed indirectly with the auxiliary verb 可 kě yǐ) 'can' in combination with double negation 不可不 bù kě yǐ) bù 'cannot not >>> must'.37 The only auxiliary verb expressing a direct obligation in an affirmative sentence is the auxiliary verb 必 bì 'must'.38 As a modal verb, it conveys deontic modality in the strict sense.
The modal verb "might", for example, had 25 spelling variants in Elizabethan times.
The third principal part is a distinct indicative imperfective stem (Geʿez yə-qabbər) that employs the same prefixes and circumfixes as the modal verb form but has a distinctive disyllabic shape (-CaC[C]əC-).
One that is still prevalent in the South is the use of more than one modal verb, as in "I might should do that". Bill Clinton, occasionally slipping back into his Arkansas dialect, has been known to use this form.
This study analyzes modal verb use in a small corpus of L1 and L2 writing (718 essays/201,601 words) on five topics written by speakers of English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
At Astrakhan State Pedagogical University, located in the Volga River delta, Maya Ryashchina had found three patterns: noun plus postpositive, as in hands-on manager and heads-up tennis; verb plus postpositive, as in drive-by killing; and a modal verb plus infinitive, as in can-do mentality, must-have wine and must-see film.
Modal verbs and expressions 14.
"We used to teach children about verbs and now it's all the different types of verbs: modal verbs, transitive verbs, intransitive verbs.
English auxiliary verbs include the modal verbs, which may express such notions as possibility ("may," "might," "can," "could") or necessity ("must").
The subtle distinctions between these (and between other so-called modal verbs) are gradually disappearing, but they still matter to many of our readers and can be useful.
If possible, involve the children in preparing and writing out the class rules - it is especially good practice with modal verbs.
