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What are modal verbs?

Often in IELTS we are asked to give opinions on situations and make recommendations. We can do this using modal verbs.

Modal verbs can be used to express:

  •     obligation/freedom to act
  •     certainty / deductions
  •     ability

As with many other words in the English language, a modal verb can be used to express different meanings, for example, ‘should’ can be used to express both recommendation and probability.

The following lesson is intended as a revision of modal verbs and gives you examples of how to use them in an IELTS context, using extracts from reading passages in the final test.

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What are modal verbs?

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What are modal verbs?