Модальные глаголы и способы их перевода

И. В. Несветайлова 

МОДАЛЬНЫЕ ГЛАГОЛЫ
И
СПОСОБЫ ИХ ПЕРЕВОДА

Учебно-методическое пособие 

Второе издание,  
переработанное и дополненное

Москва
Берлин
2020 

УДК 811.111(075) 
ББК 81.432.1-2я7  
 Н55 

Рецензент
Карапетян Е.А. – кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры 
иностранных языков АМТИ (филиал) ФГБОУ ВПО «Куб ГТУ»  
(г. Армавир). 

Несветайлова, И.В. 
Н55 
 Модальные    глаголы    и   способы    их     перевода: 
 учебно-методическое пособие / И.В. Несветайлова. 2-е изд., 
  перераб. и доп. – Москва ; Берлин : Директ-Медиа, 2020. – 
 60 с. 

ISBN 978-5-4499-0676-2 

Учебно-методическое пособие «Модальные глаголы и способы их 
перевода» предназначено для учащихся школ с углубленным изучением 
английского языка, студентов колледжей и высших учебных заведений. 
Учебно-методическое пособие разработано с целью систематизации знаний грамматики английского языка, направлено на активизацию 
употребления модальных глаголов в устной и письменной речи и может 
быть использовано как на занятиях под руководством преподавателя, так 
и самостоятельно. 
Печатается в авторской редакции. 

УДК 811.111(075) 
ББК 81.432.1-2я7  

ISBN 978-5-4499-0676-2 
© Несветайлова И. В., текст, 2020 
© Издательство «Директ-Медиа», оформление, 2020 

Предисловие

Учебно-методическое пособие «Модальные глаголы и способы их перевода» разработано с целью систематизации знаний 
грамматики английского языка и направлено на активизацию употребления модальных глаголов в устной и письменной речи изучающих английский язык.  
Основные модальные глаголы английского языка представлены в семи разделах. Каждый раздел имеет четкую структуру. 
Теоретический материал представлен в виде моделей, значение которых раскрывается с помощью краткого пояснения и примеров. 
Практическая часть снабжена упражнениями на анализ 
функционирования модальных глаголов, тренировку и закрепление 
моделей в речи, а также упражнениями на перевод с английского 
языка на русский и с русского языка на английский. В восьмом, 
обобщающем разделе, предлагаются упражнения на множественный выбор модальных глаголов, позволяющие проверить знания 
самостоятельно. 
Пособие предназначено для учащихся школ с углубленным 
изучением английского языка, студентов колледжей и высших 
учебных заведений. Пособие может быть использовано как на занятиях под руководством преподавателя, так и самостоятельно. 

Modal verbs Main characteristics 

Modal verbs express the speaker’s attitude to the action indicated 
by the main verb. The main modals are: can, could, may, might, must, 
shall, should, will, would. Ought to, used to, dare and need are 
also used as modal verbs, but they have other uses as well. Modal 
verbs are called modal auxiliaries or modals. Sometimes they are 
called defective verbs, because they do not have all the functions of 
main verbs. 
Modal verbs have certain features in common. 
They have no verbals (non-finite verb forms), consequently 
they have no analytical forms (perfect, continuous, passive, etc.) 
Modal verbs do not use “do” in questions or negatives and 
need no auxiliaries to form questions and negations: – Can you do it? – 
No, I can’t (cannot). 
Modal verbs are used with the basic form of the verb, the infinitive form, without ‘to’: He can speak English quite fluently. 
Modal verbs do not have an ‘-s’ ending in the present tense 
of the third person singular. 
Modal verbs do not have an infinitive, a past participle, or a 
present participle. 
In spoken English, short forms of the modal verbs in the negative 
are often used. The contracted negative forms mustn’t, shan’t, 
mightn’t, oughtn’t etc. are normal in British English, but American 
speakers usually say must not, shall not, might not, ought not etc. 
The verbs can, may, shall, will have two tense forms of the 
indicative mood: the present: can, may, shall, will and the past: 
could, might, should, would. 
The forms could, might, should, would, besides denoting past action, may denote an unreal action: He could do it if he wanted to. You 
might do something about it. You should speak to her about it. He 
would not do a thing like this. 
So these modal verbs have one form of the subjunctive mood. 
When followed by a perfect infinitive, this form denotes an unreal 
action in the past: I could have done it easily. You might have done it. 
She should have agreed. I would have gone. 
The modal verbs must and need have only one form of the indicative mood. 

The modal verb ought to has only one form – that of the subjunctive mood. 
Modals have several meanings, so you need to think about the 
meaning of the sentence as a whole to be sure that your choice of 
modal expresses exactly what you want to say. 
The main ideas that modals are used to express are the following: permission, obligation, intention, ability, possibility, probability, 
desirability, necessity, certainty, prediction, logical assumption, requests, orders, suggestions, advice, criticism, prohibition. 
Ability (capability) – saying whether you are able to do something. If you want to say whether someone is able to carry out an 
action, use can. When you put the sentences into the past tense, use 
could. Use could if there are conditions controlling whether the event 
will take place. 
Absence of obligation (necessity). If you want to express the 
opposite meaning, that is it is unnecessary for something to happen, 
use need not (needn’t) or not need to, don’t (didn’t) have to, don’t 
(didn’t) need to. Don’t use mustn’t because this gives the meaning of 
obligation. 
Advice – saying what the best thing to do is. 
If you want to say something is the best thing to do, use 
should, ought. 
Criticism – saying what the best thing to do in the past was. 
If you want to say something was the best thing to do, use 
should (shouldn’t), ought to. 
The modal verbs have two major functions: primary and secondary. In their primary function modals reflect their concrete and 
imperative meaning, that is, the meanings often given first in the dictionaries. 
In their secondary function modals reflect their suppositional 
meaning, that is, they can be used to express the degree of certainty/uncertainty a speaker feels about a possibility. 
The modals can be arranged on a scale from the greatest uncertainty to the greatest certainty. 
Certainty – saying that you are sure about something. 
If you want to say that you are sure something is true, use 
must. To express the opposite meaning, that is you are sure something is not true, use can’t. 

Deduction –  the process of using the knowledge or information in order  to  understand  something  or  form an  opinion; a  conclusion  that somebody has reached about something because of other 
things that somebody knows to be true. 
Desirability – saying that something is the right thing to do. 
If you want to say that you think it is a good thing for something to happen, use should or ought to. 
Intention –saying what you are going to do. 
If you want to say that you intend to do something, use will or 
shall. 
Shall is only used with the first person (I; we), and is 
much less common than will. It is hardly ever used in American English. 
Logical assumption – a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof. 
If you want to say that something is logically probable, use 
must. If you want to say that something  is logically improbable, 
use can’t or couldn’t 
Necessity – saying that something is necessary. 
If you want to say that it is necessary for something to happen, 
use must. 
Obligation –saying what someone must do. 
If you want to demand that something happens, or that someone 
does something (to express obligation), use must. 
To express an intention at a time in the past, use would. 
Use would if there are conditions controlling whether something 
will take place. 
Offers – offering to do something. 
If you want to offer to do something, use shall, can, would. 
Permission – allowing someone to do something. 
If you want to give or ask for permission, use can or may. 
May is more polite or formal than can. Could is a polite way of asking 
for permission. Might is a very formal and old-fashioned way of asking for permission. 
Possibility – saying whether something is possible. 
If you want to say that something is possible, use can or may. 
May is more polite or formal than can. If you want to suggest that 
the action is less likely to happen, use could or might. If you use 
might, you mean that the action is especially unlikely. So might means 
that it is possible, but only if there are no problems.