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Unit 05 Fit and well - LESSON 3A GRAMMAR

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LESSON 3A GRAMMAR

Past Modal Verbs - Complete Guide with Exercises

📚 Article Contents

🗣️ Speaking

📖 Reading

📝 Grammar

✍️ Exercises

Jump to: 🗣️ Speaking | 📖 Reading | 📝 Grammar | ✍️ Exercises | 🌐 Resources

🗣️ SPEAKING

In pairs, ask and answer the questions:

🏠 Question 1

Is it easy or hard for young people to move out of their family home and start living on their own?

🏢 Question 2

What are the good/bad sides of sharing a flat with people your own age?

Students' own answers

🎯 Improve Your Speaking Skills - Cambridge English

📖 READING

Read the article. Does it mention any of your ideas from Exercise 1?

Students' own answers

🎓 A GUIDE FOR NEW STUDENTS FREEDOM!

When you were at school, you had to be there from 8.30 to 3.30 every day. You had to wear a uniform. You couldn't leave school at lunchtime and you couldn't bring food from home. But when you're a student at university, you don't have to follow the same rules.

I remember my first weeks at university. Suddenly I didn't have to go to class every day. I could wear what I wanted. I didn't have to eat school dinners – it was my decision. I could spend every evening with my friends. I could eat when I wanted.

But student life wasn't perfect. Firstly, food didn't just appear like it did at home. You had to buy it and then cook it! Secondly, there were four other guys in my flat and nobody wanted to clean the bathroom. I had to write a list so everyone knew when they had to clean it. It was then I realised two things: one, I was becoming an adult, and two, freedom has a downside.

📚 Learn More About Modal Verbs - British Council

📝 GRAMMAR - Past Modal Verbs

Find sentences in the article that have the same meaning as the sentences below:

1. I was allowed to eat when I wanted.

I could eat when I wanted.

2. You weren't allowed to leave school at lunchtime.

You couldn't leave school at lunchtime.

3. It was necessary to eat meals at regular times.

You had to eat meals at regular times.

4. It wasn't necessary to eat school dinners

I didn't have to eat school dinners.

Study the Grammar box and find more examples of past modals in the article:

Past Modal Verbs

could = it was possible or allowed in the past
I could do what I wanted as a child.

couldn't = it wasn't possible or allowed
We couldn't open the door yesterday.

had to = it was necessary
He had to wear a uniform to school.

didn't have to = it wasn't necessary
I didn't have to get up early this morning

You had to wear a uniform.; you couldn't leave school...; you couldn't bring food...; Suddenly I didn't have to go...; I could wear...; I didn't have to eat; I could spend...; I could eat...; You had to buy it...; I had to write...; when they had to clean it;

🌍 Comprehensive Modal Verbs Guide - EF Education First

✍️ EXERCISES

Read about teenage life in Britain in 1958. Complete the sentences with the correct past modal verbs:

1 Most teenagers had to leave school at sixteen so they could earn money.

2 Most young people couldn't go to university.

3 Teenagers had to give most of the money they earned to their parents.

4 Most boys had to spend eighteen months in the army.

5 Most people couldn't wash their clothes in a washing machine

Use the phrases below and the verbs from the Grammar box to make sentences about when you were ten:

📝 do a lot of homework

When I was ten years old, I didn't have to do a lot of homework.

🛏️ go to bed early

I had to go to bed early.

🎮 play video games

I couldn't play video games.

👔 wear school uniform

I had to wear a school uniform.

Suggested answers: I had to go to bed early. I couldn't play in the street. I couldn't play video games. I had to tell my parents where I was going. I couldn't watch anything I wanted on TV. I had to wear a school uniform. I couldn't wear what I wanted.

Workbook Exercises - Past Modal Verbs: