Matéria: Inglês Assunto: Verbos modais Prof. Rafael Dupont

Transcription

1 Matéria: Inglês Assunto: Verbos modais Prof. Rafael Dupont

2 Inglês Verbos modais Os verbos can, could, should, may, etc são chamados verbos modais auxiliares. Eles sempre aparecem antes de outros verbos no infinitivo e adicionam diferentes significados como certeza, obrigação, etc. Suas principais características são as seguintes: a) não levam -s na terceira pessoa do singular. São invariáveis. He may know our address. b) não necessitam verbo auxiliar em frases negativas e interrogatives. Can you swim? Will you marry me? You shouldn t be doing that. She can t speak French. c) devem ser sempre seguidos de um outro verbo o infinitivo sem a partícula to. We must water the flowers. Usos exceções: os verbos modais have to e ought to são sempre seguidos de to. People really have to work hard these days. You ought to take the garbage outside. Can, Could and (be) able to We use can to say that something is possible or that somebody has the ability to do something. They can see the bridge from their bedroom window. I can come and see you next weekend if you like. Can you speak English? Mary can t speak any foreign language. When we talk about ability, could is the past of can Peter can swim very well. Peter s father could swim very well when he was younger. (Be) able to is possible instead of can. Are you able to speak English? Can has only two forms: can (present) and could (past). When we want to express another tense, it is necessary to use (be) able to. John can t sleep. John hasn t been able to sleep recently. 2

3 Inglês Prof. Rafael Dupont Could (do) and could have (done) We use could to talk about possible actions now or in the future. Mary: What shall we do tomorrow? Peter: We could go to the mountains. When you go to Los Angeles next year, you could rent a car. Can is also possible in the sentences above (we can go to the mountains). Could is less sure than can. Could (do) X could have (done) Kim is really tired. I think he could sleep for a week. Kim was really tired. He could have slept for a week. We use could have (done) for things which were possible but did not happened. Why did you rent that car? You could have borrowed mine! Must and can t: deductions We use must when we feel sure something is true. You ve been working hard. You must be tired. What did you say? Spanish is a nice language? You must be kidding! We use can t when we feel sure something is not possible/true. You have eaten five hamburgers. You can t be hungry! Mary is a very shy girl. She can t know too many people. The past form is must have (done) and can t have done. The phone rang but I didn t hear it. I must have been out. Lucy didn t look at me yesterday. She can t have seen me. Must and have to: obligation and necessity When we know that it is necessary to do something we use must and have to. I haven t seen Ann for ages. I must pay her a visit. Gina can t come with us this evening. She has to work. Bill is such a nice guy. You must meet him. You can t turn left here. You have to turn right. It is possible to use have got to instead of have to. I ve got to work Sunday morning. I have to work Sunday morning. 3

4 Should and Ought to We use should to give advices and opinions. Do you want to take the medicine s course? You should study much more. Should I invite Lucy to go out? The president should do more things to help poor people. I think you should work harder. We use should have (done) when we didn t do something but we think it would have been the right thing to do. You missed a great party, Sarah. You should have come. I m not feeling right. I shouldn t have drunk so much. It possible to use ought to instead of should. The president ought to do more things to help poor people. I think you ought to work harder. May and might We use may and might to express possibilities. Pete: Where s Sue? Linda: I don t know. She may be in the office? Sarah: She might be home. Liz: Ask Jill. She might know. For the past we use may have (done) or might have (done) Mary didn t come to the party last night. She might have been sick. Where s my wallet? I may have left at Paula s house. Had better and would rather When we use had better, we are saying that it is advisable to do something. If one don t do it, there will be a problem or a danger. I have to catch the plane in ten minutes. I d better go now. You d better take an umbrella. It might rain this afternoon. The negative form is had better not. I m feeling ill. I d better not study today. The boss is very demanding. You d better not be late. 4

5 Inglês Prof. Rafael Dupont We would rather to state a preference: would rather = would prefer I d rather stay at home tonight than go to that boring party. Would you rather have beer or wine? The negative form is would rather not. I m feeling tired. I d rather not go to the course this afternoon. I d rather not go out tonight. Can, could, may and would: invitations, requests, offers and permissions. Offering and inviting. Would you like some tea? Would you like to go out with me tonight? Offering to do things. Can I help you? Can I get you some medicine? Requests. Can you give me a hand, please? Could you open the door, please? John, would you do me a favor? Will you please be quiet? I m trying to concentrate. Asking for and giving permission. Can I come in? Could I come in? May I come in? Used to (do) and (be) used to (doing) We use used to (do) to say that something happened regularly in the past but no longer happens. Bob used to smoke forty cigarettes a day. Thank God he doesn t smoke anymore. Tina used to travel a lot when she worked at Varig. Raphael used to have long hair when he was a teenager. We use the structure (be) used to (doing) something when the thing is not strange or new for me. I m used to eating spicy food because I lived in Mexico for three years. Mary is used to working hard because she worked as a trainee some time ago. 5