modal verbs for necessity and suggestion exercises

It is common in task 2 to get a question asking you to discuss a problem and suggest solutions. They are used before ordinary verbs and express meanings such as permission, possibility, certainty and necessity. Must, should, ought to, have to and could are often used to make suggestions for solving a problem. So the second two are better in this situation. When you are writing IELTS essays, it's unusual that you will have evidence with you or that you can use to show 100% what you are saying is true. (There are other ways to make it less certain e.g. ‘ Will' is 100% going to happen, so avoid using it to make generalizations about everybody/everything unless you know it is 100% true. The grammar is ok, but it is not possible to conclude that all children with no father as a role model will become criminals!īe careful when you are making assessments in this way. This is a common mistake to see in IELTS essays. Hopefully you worked out that the first one is wrong.

Which of these sentences do you think is incorrect?

(Possible)Ĭhildren with no father as a role model could become criminals. (100%)Ĭhildren with no father as a role model may become criminals. Will, may, might and could are common to make logical deductions about a situation or the future, which you often need to do in task 2:Ĭhildren with no father as a role model will become criminals. Three important functions of modal verbs when you are writing or speaking for IELTS are: More in-depth grammar explanations of modal verbs can be found here but carry on reading below to see how modals can be used in IELTS. The exceptions are ‘ ought’, ' need’ and ‘ have’ which are followed by the infinitive (with “to”). As you can see from the table, these verbs are used with a main verb and are followed by the bare infinitive (bare means no “ to”).

Modal verbs for necessity and suggestion exercises