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WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024mod•al /ˈmoʊdəl/USA pronunciation adj. - of or relating to a mode or way of doing something.
A modal verb is used before an auxiliary, or a main verb to indicate the speaker's attitude toward the action expressed by the main verb. Modal verbs in English are: can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will and would. Some characteristics of these verbs are: Modal verbs do not change in the present tense, third person singular form:I can run. He can run (He runs).Modal verbs are followed by the root form of the next verb:I can swim. She could have walked. He might be staying.Modal verbs come before the word not in negative sentences:I will not see you today. She won't be home.Modal verbs come before the subject in questions:Can I see you in your office? Will you be home tomorrow?Modal verbs can stand alone when another main verb is understood but has been left out:I'd like to talk with you now but I can't (= can't talk with you now). He'll be there, won't he? (= won't he be there?)Modal verbs express different attitudes toward the action of the main verb. Some of these feelings include: possibility:It might rain tomorrow;
ability:He could lift a hundred pounds;
permission:May I go home now? Can she come in, please?;
necessity:It must be here somewhere!;
suggestions:We could have pizza tonight, I guess.See each verb for more details.n. [countable] - a modal verb:For your homework, find all the modals on this page and underline them.
See -mod-. WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024mod•al (mōd′l),USA pronunciation adj. - of or pertaining to mode, manner, or form.
- Music and Dance
- pertaining to mode, as distinguished from key.
- based on a scale other than major or minor.
- TransportAlso, single modal. pertaining to or suitable for transportation involving only one form of a carrier, as truck, rail, or ship. Cf. bimodal (def. 3), intermodal.
- Grammarnoting or pertaining to mood.
- Philosophypertaining to a mode of a thing, as distinguished from one of its basic attributes or from its substance or matter.
- Philosophy, Grammar[Logic.]exhibiting or expressing some phase of modality.
n. - OceanographySee modal auxiliary.
- Medieval Latin modālis. See mode1, -al1
- 1560–70
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