quiz Archives - EFL Ideas

Modal Verbs Conversation Questions, Use, and Examples

Practice modal verbs with conversation questions, watch video explanation and study example sentences.

What are modal verbs? According to Merriam-Webster, a modal verb is a verb (such as can, could, shall, should, ought to, will, or would) that is usually used with another verb to express ideas such as possibility, necessity, and permission.

Modal verbs and their meanings.

Modal verbs	Meaning	Example
can	ability permission	She can speak play several musical instruments. They can work on the project now.
could	polite request past ability suggestion possibility	Could you help me, please? He could climb trees when he was a kid. You could focus on the problem now. This could be the solution we need.
may	possibility permission	This may help us save the environment. You may leave.
might	possibility	These numbers might be wrong.
will	future polite request	The prices will go up. Will you open the door for me?
would	offering, inviting polite request	Would you join us for dinner? Would you check this report for me?
should	advising, suggesting expectation	You should stop smoking. It should start raining soon.
must	obligation, necessity conclusion	You must submit the application by Friday. This car looks luxurious. It must be very expensive.
mustn’t	prohibition	Passengers mustn’t talk to the driver.

I also recommend this wonderful video by Khan Academy. You can assign it as homework, it explains modal verbs in a very approachable and enjoyable way.

Practice modal verbs with Quizlet.

(Choose Flashcards in the Study mode in the bottom right corner, and click on the arrows above it to switch between front and back sides.)

Modal verbs conversation questions

1) Is there anything you can’t do and would like to learn?

2) What are the three things you can do best?

3) Name three things you may do this weekend.

4) Name three things you may not do at school.

5) Should students be allowed to eat during lessons? Why or why not?

6) Name two things you must do every day.

7) Name two things you mustn’t do at home.

8) What activities couldn’t you do last year because of the pandemic?

9) Name three things you could do when you were younger but can’t do anymore.

10) Is there anything you can do better than your parents?

Other resources

Conversation Questions Gerunds and Infinitives: ESL Speaking Activity

Conversation Questions Conditionals: ESL Speaking Activity

Conversation Questions: Present Perfect and Past Simple

Present Tenses Exercises: Present Simple and Continuous

Conversation Questions: Future Tenses

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Online Vocabulary Activity With Pictures.

I want to share with you a fun activity which I found on the website of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It is called Name That Thing, and that is exactly what you do. They show you a picture of an everyday object or a part of it and you have to choose the correct word. Sometimes, the object is not that familiar, like for example flying buttress.

You will have 15 seconds to guess each word and the faster you are the higher the points. The game is a lot of fun and a great way how to learn new vocabulary.

There are also many other games, quizzes, crosswords, and puzzles. Have fun!

Some more vocabulary activities for ESL students >>>Travel/Holiday Vocabulary Cards, Media/Entertainment Vocabulary Card Game Based on Taboo, Business English Vocabulary Card Game | Forbidden Words,

Make Game Quizzes For ESL Lessons

My younger students are very competitive and playful, and I love that about them. It is great to see that they are engaged and immersed in the activity, that they are having fun; and that they don’t even realise they are learning.

I am always in need of new resources, games, flash cards, you name it! Sometimes, I make my own, you can download them here: Media Card Game, Restaurant Menu Pair Work, Travel&Holidays Card Game, Role plays- Travel. Another time, I happily turn to many online resources an ESL teacher can use. The one I recently used to revise reported speech, is Jeopardy Labs. It is an online template builder which allows you to build customised jeopardy (or a basic quiz game) template. It has a very simple, intuitive editor and when you have no time to build your own, you can browse games created by other people. I got tons of results when I searched for reported speech and there are plenty of quizzes on other subjects, too!

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