V. VERB QUALITIES - UW-Parkside: Help for Personal Homepages

even a possibility of the implied request being granted. This humble use of can is an old and
well-attested one, but it annoys those who would like the language to make more rigorous
distinctions in word use. Those who feel this way would prescribe the use of may or might for
all cases where permission is sought. They can often be used interchangeably, without
regard to tense considerations, though in general the past forms of modals (could, might)
appear somewhat more deferential:
(5) May I have this dance?
(6) Might I have this dance?
When it comes to questions, you might want to use may/might only in highly formal
situations--or when asking an English teacher to dance. Notice, though, that they can also be
used where the issue is simply possibility–thus infringing on the turf of can/could:
(7) I may have offended her.
(8) I might drop by your place later.
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By most accounts, a Standard English sentence can have only one modal at a time. Various
non-standard dialects, however, use might could and some other double modals, and use of
these double modals may be coming more widespread. It is probably still safest to avoid
them in formal writing. In informal speech, of course, one hears the triple form mightacoulda-woulda,
with the “-a” endings representing the abbreviated have form ‘ve, which is
also responsible for the very non-standard forms might of, could of, or would of.
Some overlap in uses also occurs between the pairs will/would and shall/should.
At one time school texts insisted that shall should be used for the future with the first person
singular and plural and will in all other cases:
(1) I shall see you soon.
(2) We shall have a drink or two before we go.
(3) He will lose his teeth that way.
(4) They will want to forget this game.
This usage survives, especially in British English, but Standard American English uses will in
all such sentences, reserving shall for mandative uses, where it is much more forceful than
either will or should--closer, in fact, to must:
(5) Meetings shall be held on alternate Fridays.
Would is used in hypothetical futures, including polite requests, and is sometimes combined
in that use with like:
(6) I wouldn't do that if I were you.
(7) Would you get me a beer while you're up?
(8) Would you like to sit down?.
Should is generally used interchangeably with ought to as a less forceful form of must and
the mandative shall, one that does not assume compliance:
(9) The committee shall meet every week.
(10) The committee must meet every week.
(11) The committee ought to meet every week.
(12) The committee should meet every week.
One can also find should as a rather formal future in conditional clauses, as in sentence (13):
(13) If George should come, tell him I’d like to speak with him.