learntospeakfluentenglish

could have + past participle
or
might have + past participle
or
may have + past participle*
* participle = 3rd form of verb

Study the following sentences.

1.Ruby could have been at home.
2.Ruby might have been at home.
3.Ruby may have been at home.

All the sentences given above carry the
same meaning.The meaning is: It is
possible Ruby was at home. Or perhaps
Ruby was at home.

could/might/can +have + past participle
is use to express possibility in the past.

Now study the following sentence.
Perhaps Raju knew the address.
We can use could/might/may have + past
participle of the main verb know and say:
Raju could have known the address.
or
Raju might have known the address.
or
Raju may have known the address.
Here is the exercise for you.Use could/might/may
have + past participle of the main verb and
rewrite the sentences.
1.It is possible he watched T.V.yesterday.
2.Perhaps they reached the station on time.
3.Perhaps we had an accident.
4.It is possible she missed the train.

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In our day-to-day conversation we need to
use the sentences expressing possibility
or we are required to make a request or
to grant or refuse a request.we also
express our ‘wish’ for someone.May is the
modal verb serves all these purposes.
Thus May is used to express the following
moods.
1 Possibility ( Probability) in the present
or in the future
2 Request for permission
3 Grant of permission
4 Refusing permission
5 wish,faith or hope
Here are the sentences expressing all the
above moods.Read them carefully and mark
the structures of the sentences.Read each
and every sentence again and again and
utter them loudly several times.

1 Look at the sky, it may rain today
(Possibility)

2 May i come in , sir ?
(request for permission)

3 You may come in.
(Grant of permission)

4 You may not come in.
(Reusing permission)

5 May God bless you!
(Wish)

Exercise

Make sentences using the modal verb ‘may.’

Example

Prompts

1………leave now ? (I)
May I leave now ?
2………not leave yet.(You)
You may not leave yet.
3………leave now.(You)
You may leave now.

1…….get angry (Ruby)
2…….rain tonight.(It)
3…….go to the film this evening(We)
4…….not stop for lunch today(I)
5…….use your pen?(I)
6…….see the Principal(I)
7…….sit here.(You)
8…….not play in this garden.(You)
9…….not be true.(The report)
10……miss the the bus.(She )

The modal verb ‘could’ expresses ‘polite request’, ‘ability in past’,

and ‘possibility’.We also use it to denote ’suggestion’ and

‘permission’.It is one of the most useful words/verbs that we

notice people use in  their day today conversation.It is really

very useful verb, every learner must master its use.

Before we learn how to frame sentences with ‘could’,we should

study the following sentences carefully. thus we’ll have a clear

idea of the structure.

Here are the sentences.

1.Could I use your pen?

2.He could swim when he was only 5 years old.

3.Don’t touch these wires.It could be dangareous.

4.you could take a taxi.

5.You could leave now.

The following are the structures we get from the above

sentences.

1.Subject + could + first form of verb +other words.

2.Subject +could +not + first form of verb +other words.

3.Could + subject + first form of verb + other words ?

Let’s now learn to make sentences with ‘could’ with the

help of the prompts given.

Example:

1………dance well.when he was 8 years old.{He}

He could dance well when he was 8 years old.

2…….lend me your scooter?{You}

Could you lend me your scooter?

Now make sentences as have been explained above.

Here are the prompts for you.

1……recite the Quran at the age of 9{Salim}

2…..not speak properly in the meeting.{She}

3…..not answer all the questions in the last

examination.

4……drink as much?{You}

5……decide tonight{They}

6……be in her office{She}

7…..watch the movie tonight{We}

In the last post on the modal verb I dealt with the

 

first structure i.e. subject + can + first form of

 

verb + other words. In this post I am going to touch

 

upon the second structure i.e.

 

subject +cannot + first form of the verb + other words.

 

And the third structure i.e.

 

Can + subject + first form of the verb + other words + ?

 

Second structure

 

Through this structure you will learn to make negative

 

Sentences. Here is the prompt for this.

 

Prompt

   

               …… ….not play well.(Raju)

             Raju cannot play well.

 

In place of Raju , you can use another subjects like

 

I/You /We / They /Samee /He/ She / The boys and get the

 

Following sentences.

 

1                    I cannot play well.

 

2                    You cannot play well.

 

3                    We cannot play well.

 

4                    They cannot play well.

 

5                    Samee cannot play well.

 

6                    He cannot play well.

 

7                    She cannot play well.

 

8                    The boys cannot play well.

 

Well, please pay your attention to how the sentences

 

have been framed.Here are more prompts for you to

make sentences with in the structure explained above.

 

–second structure— i.e.

 

Subject +cannot + first form of verb + other words.

 

Prompts

1         ……….not play football well(I/You/

                           We/They/Samee/He/She)

2        ……….not play tennis well.

 

3        ……….not play hockey well.

 

4        ……….not play the piano well.

 

5        ……….not play the piano well.

 

6        ……….not play the guitar well.

 

7        ……….not speak English .

 

8        ……….not teach Urdu.

 

9        ……….not cook food.

 

10       ……….not make an omelet

 

11       ……….not open the lock.

 

12       ……….not write with a pencil.

 

13       ……….not run fast.

 

14       ……….not drive the car.

 

15       ……….not lend you money.

 

7 x 15 = 105 sentences can be made from the

 

above prompts.

 

Third structure

 

We’ll go for the third structure i.e.

 

Can + subject + first form of the verb +

 

other words + ?

 

Here are again the same prompts for you

 

to make interrogative sentences following

 

the third structure . Please study the following

 

solved examples.

 

Prompt

 

……….play cricket well ? (Nihan)

 

Can Nihan play cricket well ?

 

Here you are to pay your attention to the

 

order of the modal verb’can’.It has been put

 

at the beginning of the sentences. And

 

there is a mark of interrogation at the

 

end of the sentence.

 

Well, in the above example the subject is

 

Nihan, we can replace it with the following

 

Subjects.

 

I

 

You

 

We

 

They

 

Samee

 

He

 

She

 

Here are the  sentences with the above

 

Subjects.

 

1                     can I play cricket well ?

 

2                     can you play cricket well?

 

3                     Can they cricket well?

 

4                     Can Samee play cricket well?

 

5                     Can he play cricket well?

 

6                     Can she play cricket well?

 

Now you are to make sentences as has been

 

Exemplified in the preceding paragraphs.

 

Follow the third structure and make sentences.

 

You have to bear in mind the order of the modal

 

verb and  other words.And also put a mark of interrogation

 

at the end of the sentences.

 

Prompts

     

1…….play football well?(I/You/We/They/Samee

                                      /He/She/The boys)

     

2…….play hockey well?

     

3…….play tennis well?

     

4…….play the guitar well?

     

5…….play the piano well?

     

6…….speak English well?

     

7…….teach Urdu?

     

8…….cook food?

     

9…….make an omelet?

     

10……write with a pencil?

     

11……open the lock?

     

12……run fast?

 

13……drive the car?

 

14……lend money?

 

7x 14 = 112 sentences can  be made from the

 

above prompts.

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Lesson plan for making sentences using the 

modal verb ‘can’

 

In the earlier “post”on modal verb ‘can’ you were 

introduced with some structures.By using those 

structures you can frame hundreds of sentences.

In  today’s post” I’m going to give you some 

prompts and explain to you how you can use those

‘prompts’ for making senteces

in the structure so far learned/studied .

Prompt:…………………….play cricket well (Raju)

The above prompt can be used into a sentence

following the structure you have already learned.

Here is the sentence.

Raju can play cricket well.

Please pay your attention 

to how the sentence has been made. 

In the above sentence,the subject is Raju.You can 

replace Raju with another subjects like I, YOU WE

HE SHE THEY THEY GIRLS etc. and make several sentences.

As:

I can play cricket well.

You can play cricket well.

We can play criket well.

He can play cricket well.

She can play cricket well.

They can play cricket well.

The girls can play cricket well.

Thus we have got seven sentences with the help of

a single prompt.Several more sentences can be framed

        by taking another subjects.

Here are some group of words you can use them as 

subjects.

My friend

My son

His daughter

John

Samee

Some boys etc.Look for some more words or word groups 

that you can use as subjects and make sentences.

How to practise with these prompts?

You can use these prompts both for making written sentences

and speaking sentences orally.

 

To make new prompts

The prompt you used to make sentences can be turned into 

several new prompts by simply replacing a word or words.

Here is the prompt we used:

………………….play cricket well.

In the above prompt we can replace the word ‘cricket’ by

the words like ‘football’,'tennis’,'hockey’,'the piano’,'the

guitar’ etc and get the following new prompts:

1) …………………play football well.

2) …………………play tennis well.

3)………………… play hockey well.

4) …………………play the piano well.

5)………………… play the guitar well.

 

Here are the sentences with the first prompt.

 

prompt ……………….play football well(Nihan/Samee/He/She

                                         /I/You/We/They)

Nihan can play football well.

Samee can play football well.

He can play football well.

She can play football well.

He can play football well.

She can play ootball well.

I can play football well.

You can play football well.

We can play football well.

They can play football well.

Thus we have made use of only one prompt and got eight

sentences.In the same way we can use the other prompts 

and make 32 more sentences.well, what to wait for then,

go ahead and make sentences.

More prompts are here.

       1………learn English(I/You/We/They/Nihan/He/She/

                             The boys/The girls)

      2………teach you English.

      3………cook food.

      4………make an omelet.

      5………write with a pencil.

      6………open the lock.

      7 ……..lift this box.

      8………run fast.

      9………drive the car.

      10……..lend you money.

Go for the ‘Second Structure’ here.

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