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Modals: obligation, necessity, prohibition,
Grammar 2 possibility, deduction, advice, criticism

1 Read about modal verbs.
Obligation & necessity • We use may/might/could + have + past
• We use must, have to or need to to express participle to talk about possibility in the past.
obligation. We can use must for the present or We do not use could have in negative sentences.
future and we can use have to and need to for The lights were all off. There may/might/could
the present, past or future. have been a powercut.
We must find the murderer! It was quite dark. He may/might not have seen
I’ve never had to go to prison. the robbers clearly.
You will need to lock up your valuables. Deduction
• We use don’t have to, don’t need to or needn’t to • We use must or can’t to show that we are almost
talk about something that is not necessary. certain that something is or is not true.
You don’t have/need to call the sheriff. He’s got blood on his hands. He must be the
You needn’t call the sheriff.
• We use didn’t have to or didn’t need to for murderer.
She can’t be the robber; she was with me at the
something unnecessary in the past. We don’t
know if it was done or not. time of the robbery.
I didn’t have/need to pay a fine. • We use must/can’t/couldn’t + have + past
• We use needn’t have for something that was participle to talk about the past.
done in the past, although it was unnecessary. He had to pay a fine. He must have broken the
I needn’t have given back the money I borrowed. law.
You can’t/couldn’t have seen Jacob in the city
Prohibition centre; he’s in prison serving a life sentence.
We use mustn’t to say that something is not allowed.
You mustn’t be late for meetings with your Advice & criticism
probation officer. We use should and ought to to give advice and
should/ought to + have + past participle to
Possibility express criticism.
• We use may, might or could to express You should/ought to report him to the police.
possibility in the present or the future. We do He shouldn’t/ought not to have robbed that bank.
not use could in negative sentences.
This footprint may/might/could be important.
The lights aren’t on. They may/might not be home.

2 Read the sentences. What modals do they use? What do these modals express? In which
sentence did something happen even though it was not necessary?
a He didn’t need to do time in prison.
b He needn’t have done time in prison.
Read 6.5-6.10 of the Grammar Reference before you do the task.

3 Circle the correct words.
Int: So, you’re a probation officer in the UK criminal system, aren’t you?
Ann: Yes, that’s right. I work with people who have either broken the law, but
1 didn’t have to serve / needn’t have served a prison sentence, or people
who had to / must go to prison, but who are out now.
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Int: It must / may be quite a difficult job. Working with criminals mustn’t / can’t
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be easy! What kind of things do you have to / can you do?
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Ann: Well, I often need / must to write reports, for example, when I think a
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criminal has to / might be dangerous, or if I think they could / need to
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break the law again. I also could / have to make sure that the criminal
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does what the judge has said they must / can do. For example, sometimes
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criminals have to / needn’t do community service. They must / might
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actually do the work they have been told to do.
Int: 13 Did you need to / Mustn’t you go to university to get this job?
Ann: No, I needn’t / can’t have gone to university, but I did. Then I may / had to
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train to become a probation services officer, or a PSO as they are called.
Int: That 16 can / must have taken quite a few years.
Ann: After university, the whole process took about fifteen months. But it was
worth it – I really enjoy my job.
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