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Using auxiliary (helping) verbs to express politeness and certainty |
| AUXILIARY VERB | USE | EXAMPLE |
| can | ability | I can understand his English fairly well. |
| informal permission | You can use my copy of the agenda. | |
| informal polite request | Can I borrow your copy of the agenda? | |
| impossibility (with negative) | That can't be true! | |
| could | past ability | I could understand the last speaker better. |
| polite request | Could I borrow your copy of the agenda? | |
| possibility | I could understand him better if he spoke more slowly. | |
| suggestion | I need some new ideas for this project. You could have a brainstorming session with the whole team. | |
| less than 50% certainty | Where is John? He could be stuck in traffic. | |
| impossibility (with negative) | That couldn't be true! | |
| to have to | necessity | I have to go to a meeting today. (Future) I had to go to a meeting yesterday. (Past) |
| lack of necessity (with negative) | I don't have to go to a meeting today. (Future) I didn't have to go to a meeting yesterday. (Past) | |
| have got to | necessity | I have got to go to that meeting today. (Future) |
| had better | advisability with threat of bad result | You had better be on time, or we will start without you. |
| may | polite request | May I interrupt you for a moment? |
| permission (formal) | You may interrupt me if it is important. | |
| less than 50% certainty | Robert may be stuck in traffic, so let's begin the meeting without him. | |
| might | less than 50% certainty | Robert might be stuck in traffic, so let's go ahead and begin the meeting without him. |
| must | strong necessity | I must go to a planning session today. |
| prohibition (negative) | You must not withhold information during the meeting. | |
| 95% certainty | John isn't here. He must be sick (present) John must have been sick yesterday. (Past) | |
| ought to | advisability | We ought to invite an IT specialist to the meeting next time. |
| 90% certainty | The meeting ought to end on time. | |
| shall | polite question to make a suggestion | Shall I take the minutes? |
| should | advisability |
We should meet again next week. We should have met more often last month. (past) |
| 90% certainty | The meeting should finish on time. | |
| to be supposed to | expectation | The meeting is supposed to begin at 9:00. |
| to be | strong expectation |
You are to be there at 9:00. (future) You were to be here at 9:00. (Past) |
| to be able to | ability | My colleague is always able to help. |
| to be going to | 90% certainty | He is going to be here at 9:00. |
| intention | I'm going to ask Mr. Smith to join us. (Future) I was going to ask Mr. Smith to join us but I couldn't reach him. (Past) | |
| used to | repeated action in the past | We used to meet from 3:00 to 5:00 every Friday. |
| will | 100% certainty | I will be here at 9:00. (only future) |
| willingness | Who would like to take the minutes? I'll do it. | |
| polite request | Will you please take the minutes? | |
| would | polite request | Would you please send me another copy of the agenda? Would you mind if I left the meeting a few minutes early? |
| preference | I would rather meet in the conference room than his office. | |
| repeated action in the past | At my previous job meetings would always start at 3:00 p.m. |
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