Multilingual Writers and ESL Challenges

Base form after a modal

A modal verb—can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, or would—is used with the base form of a verb to show certainty, necessity, or possibility. Modals do not change form to indicate tense.

Modals and their meanings

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: The committee will meets again next Monday. Revised sentence: The committee will meet again next Monday. Explanation: The verb “meets” has been changed to “meet.”

The modal verb will requires the base form, meet, not the -s form, meets.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: We could spoke Portuguese when we were young. Revised sentence: We could speak Portuguese when we were young. Explanation: The verb “spoke” has been changed to “speak.”

The modal verb could requires the base form, speaks, not the past tense, spoke.

TIP:Do not use to with the base form of the verb following a modal.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: Gina can to drive us home from the party if we miss the last subway train. Revised sentence: Gina can drive us home from the party if we miss the last subway train. Explanation: The word “to” has been deleted before “drive.”

The modal verb can should be followed by the base form, drive, not by to plus the base form.

Exercises:

Verb forms with modals 1

Verb forms with modals 2

Using verbs: review