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MODALS: CAN, MAY, MUST, HAVE TO

CAN

MUST

1) Ability
I can drive

2) Possibility
I can come

1) Obligation
I must do my homework.

2) For an opinion that you think has a good possibility of being true.
Look at his uniform. He must be a policeman.

MAY

HAVE TO

1) Probability
She may come tomorrow.

2) In a very polite question
May I open the window?

1) In the affirmative: HAVE TO has a meaning similar to MUST.
I have to go to the school.

2) In the negative: HAVE TO has a different meaning: "you don't need to dot that"
It's Sunday! I don't have to go to school.

 

 

TEST : Fill in the gaps with CAN/CAN'T, MAY/MAY NOT, MUST/MUSTN'T, HAVE TO/DON'T HAVE TO

JOHN: "_________ you come to the match this afternoon?"
PETER: "I'm sorry. I _________ . I _________ wash my father's car."
JOHN: "But it's raining! You _________ wash it!"
PETER: "I know, but my parents say the rain _________ stop soon. And I _________ go out with you tonight because I _________ go to my grandmother's birthday party and I _________ come back late."

ANSWERS

JOHN: "CAN you come to the match this afternoon?"
PETER: "I'm sorry. I can't . I MUST wash my father's car."
JOHN: "But it's raining! You DON'T HAVE TO wash it!"
PETER: "I know, but my parents say the rain MAY stop soon. And I CAN'T go out with you tonight because I MUST go to my grandmother's birthday party and I MAY come back late."