How can 'can' express surprise in a question?

Aug 27, 2020 ... As is well-known, English has a number of core modal verbs, including can/could, will/would, shall/should, may/might, and must. These make it ... Each of these modal constructions have slightly different meanings, and that's what you will learn in this lesson. Pay attention to the construction and use of ... Jan 6, 2015 ... One interesting linguistic phenomenon in contemporary English involves the use of the noun forms of auxiliary verbs (e.g., oughts, shoulds). Mar 4, 2022 ... The first involves the relative weight given to individual modal verbs. Because must, may, could, should and would are the five modal verbs that ... It's almost always followed by "to" and the infinitive form of a verb. It means the same thing as "should," and is used in the same ways, although "ought" is ... Surprisingly little is known about the use of modal auxiliaries by children with specific language impairment (SLI). These forms fall within the category of ... In English, for example, we can use "to be able to," which does get conjugated, or "can," which doesn't get conjugated. Italian modal verbs are conjugated and ... ... used modal verbs in the English translations of Shih chi. 2.2. Modality values. The modality of a sentence represents the speaker's or writer's cognitive ... Choose 'essere' or 'avere' as the auxiliary for the modal according to the verb that follows the modal, the main verb, the one in the infinitive form. (If you ... Feb 24, 2025 ... Modal Auxiliary Verbs are a very rich area of the English language. They are used with great frequency and with a wide range of meanings.