TITLE:
Analysis of a Grammatical Category in English—Modal Verbs
AUTHORS:
Yiming Shan
KEYWORDS:
Modal Verbs, Can, Difficulties in Learning, Instructional Strategies
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.9,
September
14,
2021
ABSTRACT: This article aims at introducing the modal verbs, analysing the difficulties
in teaching and providing instructional implications for teaching modals from three
aspects, namely, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. In particular, this article uses can to demonstrate the problems in teaching. Importantly, the instructional implications for grammar teaching are presented
which orgranised around the concept of
form, meaning, and function. It is suggested that teaching modals could balance students’ ability of
identifying the meaning and function of modals appropriately and using
them properly.