1. Examples include the English verbs can/could, may/might, must, will/would, and shall/should. In English and other Germanic languages, modal verbs are often distinguished as a class based on certain grammatical properties.
2. A modal auxiliary verb gives information about the function of the main verb that it governs. Modals have a wide variety of communicative functions, but these functions can generally be related to a scale ranging from possibility ("may") to necessity ("must"), in terms of one of the following types of modality: -epistemic modality, concerned with the theoretical possibility of propositions being true or not true (including likelihood and certainty) -deontic modality, concerned with possibility and necessity in terms of freedom to act (including permission and duty) -dynamic modality, which may be distinguished from -deontic modality, in that with dynamic modality, the conditioning factors are internal – the subject's own ability or willingness to act.
3. A modal auxiliary verb gives information about the function of the main verb that it governs. Modals have a wide variety of communicative functions, but these functions can generally be related to a scale ranging from possibility ("may") to necessity ("must"), in terms of one of the following types of modality: -epistemic modality, concerned with the theoretical possibility of propositions being true or not true (including likelihood and certainty) -deontic modality, concerned with possibility and necessity in terms of freedom to act (including permission and duty) -dynamic modality, which may be distinguished from -deontic modality, in that with dynamic modality, the conditioning factors are internal – the subject's own ability or willingness to act.
4. Is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality – that is, likelihood, ability, permission, and obligation.
