Picture a small child saying: "Can’t, shan’t, won’t!" They are using modal verbs to show their feelings and attitude to something. Maybe they are refusing to go to bed or eat their peas.

Modal verb types Modal verbs are either single-word modals or phrasal modals. The single-word modals are listed above. Phrasal modals include expressions ‘be able to’, ‘had better ...

Here we cover only the three basic types. Initially, verbs are divided into main verbs and auxiliary verbs. Then auxiliary verbs are divided into modal auxiliary verbs and non-modal auxiliary verbs.