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Modal Auxiliaries

The verbs can, could, will, would, should, may, might, must, ought and shall are verbs which 'help' other verbs to express a meaning: it is important to realise that these "modal verbs" have no meaning by themselves. A modal verb such as would has several varying functions; it can be used, for example, to help verbs express ideas about the past, the present and the future. It is therefore wrong to simply believe that "would is the past of will": it is many other things.

1.    Will

            ·         Making presonal predictions

             I doubt if I will stay here much longer.

            ·         Talking about the present with certainly (making deductions)

             I’m sure you will understand that there is nothing the Department can do.

2.    Shall

Shall is a form of will, used mostly in the first person. Its use, however, is decreasing, and in any case in spoken English it would be contracted to "-ll" and be indistinguishable from will.

            ·         Making offers

             Shall I fetch you another glass of wine?

3.    Can & Could

           ·         Talking about ability

            Can you speak Japanese? (present)

            She could play the piano when she was five. (past)

           ·         Making request

            Could you speak up a bit please? (slightly more formal, polite or softer)

           ·         Asking permission

           Can I ask you a question?

4.    Must (examples here refer to British English, there is some variation in American English)

          ·         Must is often used to indicate 'personal' obligation; what you think you yourself or other people/things must do. If the obligation comes from outside (eg a rule or law), then have to is often (but not always) preferred:

           People must try to be more tolerant of each other.

5.    Would

           ·         As the past of will

           He said the next meeting would be in a month’s time.

6.    May

           ·         Talking about things that can happen in certain situations

            Each nurse may be responsible for up to twenty patients.

7.    Might

           ·         Saying that something was possible, but did not actually happen

           You saw me standing at the bust stop! You might have stopped and given me a lift!

Modal verbs are NEVER used with other auxiliary verbs such as do, does, did etc. The negative is formed simply by adding "not" after the verb; questions are formed by inversion of the verb and subject:

·         You should not do that.

·         Could you pick me up when I’ve finished?

source :

http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/Grammar%20Guides/3.07%20Modals.htm