SHOULD WOULD COULD Test: Learn modal verbs

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

Could, would, should, let's talk about it.

Could I speak English?

Where would I speak English?

Should I speak English?

Could, would, should, help.

These three verbs, could, would and should are called modal verbs and they can be tricky

for a lot of English learners.

Are they tricky for you?

Well, I have some good news.

Today, I'd like to challenge you with a could, would, should test.

Are you ready?

I'm going to ask you eight questions using the different forms of could, would and should

and I want you to try your best, look into your heart and choose the correct answer.

You'll have three seconds to choose could, would or should and then I'll explain hopefully

clearly why that's the correct answer.

Number one, let's imagine that you work for an American company and one of your coworkers

tells you that she's having trouble making friends in your country.

So, you'll want to give her some polite advice.

You say, "If you want to meet local people, you go to a bar."

You could go to a bar.

You would go to a bar.

You should go to a bar.

You have three seconds to choose the best answer.

Three, two, one.

If you want to make friends, you could go to a bar.

We use could to give a polite suggestion.

This isn't commanding someone to do something.

We'll talk about that with should later.

To practice this way to use could I want to ask you a question.

If I visit your city, where could I get a good view?

Sometimes it's nice to go up high and look down on the city so where could I go to get

a good view?

For example, if you came to my city, you could go to a nearby mountaintop and look down on

the city.

You could go to a nearby mountaintop.

Number two, let's imagine that you're visiting a new country and as you're walking down the

street someone tries to steal your phone.

When you go back and tell the hotel receptionist about this, she says, "Well, in the future,

you take your phone outside, it's not safe."

What's the best answer?

You couldn't take your phone outside?

You wouldn't take your phone outside?

Or you shouldn't take your phone outside?

Three, two, one.

In the future, you shouldn't take your phone outside.

We use should to give strong advice.

I hope you got this one correct because we just briefly mentioned it during number one.

In fact, this situation happened to my sister when she was living in another country.

I won't mention where but it was her first day in the country and she was walking down

the street and a lady, kind of crazy lady, came up and tried to grab her necklace from

around her neck.

It wasn't something flashy, just a little tiny chain with a little emblem on it or something

and later when she told her friends about that experience, her friend said, "Oh yeah,

you shouldn't wear jewelry, especially on that street because it's too dangerous."

Thankfully, the lady didn't take her necklace.

My sister screamed and the lady ran away but it was a little bit frightening for her.

So, her friend's advice is really strong.

You shouldn't wear jewelry, especially on that street.

I just want to let you know that the verb should is so strong that we don't often use

it for other people.

You don't want to tell your friends unless it's a dangerous situation, so you don't want

to tell them, "You should eat your vegetables."

It's a little bit strange but we often use this to talk about ourselves.

If you want to give yourself advice, it's no problem if it's strong advice.

You might say, "I should wake up earlier.

I'm sleeping too late.

I should go to bed earlier because I'm having trouble waking up."

I should.

When you give yourself advice, this is perfectly normal and it's not too strong for someone

else because it's about yourself.

Let's go to question number three.

"You helped me with my project.

Could you help me with my project?

Would you help me with my project?

Should you help me with my project?"

Which one feels the most correct.

Three, two, one.

Actually, this is a trick question because you have two choices.

You can say, "Could you help me with my project?"

Or, "Would you help me with my project?"

Both of these are equally correct and they both are just a polite request.

Would you help me?

Could you help me?

The sentence structure is often could, would plus you plus a verb plus me.

Could you pass me the paper?

Would you email me when the report is ready?

We use this all the time so it's really natural.

Question number four, let's imagine that we're talking about our childhoods and we're talking

about something that we were capable of doing as kids.

You could say, "When I was a child, I play outside all day."

I could play outside all day.

I would play outside all day.

I should play outside all day.

Which one describes a capability?

Three, two, one.

We could say, "When I was a child, I could play outside all day."

Here we're using can in the past.

When we turn the verb to conjugate it in the past, it becomes could.

So, let's take a look at the sentence in the present and compare it with could.

I can play outside all day.

This is describing now, the present.

But if we want to talk about the past, when you were a child, we need to change can to

could.

When I was a child, I could play outside all day.

It's simply talking about your ability to do something.

To practice this possibly new way to use could, I want to ask you a question.

What's something that you could do when you were younger but you can't do now?

Do you see how we're comparing could do when you were younger and can't do now with that

present?

Great.

You might answer this by saying, "Well, when I was younger I could stay up all night but

now I can't.

I get tired really early."

Or "When I was younger, I could eat sweets and never gain weight but now that's not possible."

This is a good chance to practice could to talk about your ability in the past.

Sentence number five, when I lived near the beach I swim in the water everyday.

When I lived near the beach I could swim in the water everyday, I would swim in the water

everyday or I should swim in the water everyday?

Which one feels the most correct?

Three, two, one.

When I lived near the beach I would swim in the water everyday.

We can use would to talk about will in the past.

This can be a little bit tricky so my tip for thinking about this version of would is

to think about an action that happened regularly in the past.

If I say, "When I lived at the beach I would swim in the water everyday," this is talking

about something that habitually happened.

Let's take a look at another example.

My teacher would always give us a quiz on Friday.

It happened regularly.

He wouldn't study so he failed the class.

He wouldn't regularly study.

This is something that regularly happened so he failed the class.

I want to let you know that sometimes native speakers mix verb tenses.

We might use the past simple plus a word that means habitually.

So, for example, you could say, "I swam in the ocean everyday.

My teacher always gave us a quiz.

He didn't even study."

These words everyday, always, ever, they mean habitually.

It's something that happened regularly.

So, if you want to just use the past simple, make sure that you add one of those words

or you could simply say, "He wouldn't study.

My teacher would give us a quiz.

I would swim," and it already encapsulates that idea of something that happened regularly

in the past.

Question number six, let's imagine that you're leaving the office to go to lunch with your

international coworkers and know that it's kind of raining outside.

We call that sprinkling and you see that one of your coworkers isn't bringing her umbrella

so you want to kind of tell her something politely.

You could say, "I think it's sprinkling outside.

You bring your umbrella or you can share mine."

You could probably bring your umbrella?

You would probably bring your umbrella?

You should probably bring your umbrella?

Which ones of these is the best?

Three, two, one.

You should probably bring your umbrella.

We already talked about should is really strong so when we add the word probably it lessens

the intensity.

We use should probably to give polite advice.

You don't want to say, "You should bring your umbrella."

Maybe a teacher might say that to a student or a parent might say that to a child.

You're giving strong advice but for your coworkers you want to be a little more polite.

So, native speakers will often add these words to lessen the intensity and probably is one

of the most common.

You could say, "We should probably make reservations at that restaurant because it's really busy."

Should probably.

Sentence number seven, she didn't want to turn off her phone because she get an important

phone call.

She could get an important phone call?

She would get an important phone call?

Or she should get an important phone call?

Three, two, one.

She didn't want to turn off her phone because she could get an important phone call.

We use could to talk about possibilities in the future.

She thinks that it's pretty likely that she will get a phone call so she doesn't want

to turn off her phone.

It could rain on Sunday so let's go hiking today.

It's a possibilities that on Sunday it could rain so let's enjoy the outdoors today while

it's still sunny.

I have an important note.

You can substitute the word might in this sentence and it has the exact same meaning.

Let's take a look at those two sentences again.

She could get an important phone call.

She might get an important phone call.

It could rain on Sunday.

It might rain on Sunday.

You've got two choices and both of them are correct.

Sentence number eight, this is the final sentence.

If I didn't have air conditioning in my house, it be very hot.

It could be very hot?

It would be very hot?

It should be very hot?

Which one feels the most correct?

Three, two, one.

If I didn't have air conditioning in my house, it would be very hot.

We often use would to talk about hypothetical situations.

These are imaginary things.

It's not real.

It's not happening right now.

It's hypothetical.

Sometimes these are impossible situations.

If I were a cat, I would sleep a lot.

It's not possible for me to become a cat.

This is hypothetical.

It's imaginary so we need to use would.

I would sleep a lot.

Or you can use would for hypothetical situations that are not impossible but they're just not

happening right now and that's what our sample sentence at the beginning was.

If I didn't have A/C, it would be very hot.

The A/C might break and then I wouldn't have air conditioning and it would be really hot.

So, here this is hypothetical, it's imaginary because it's not happening right now but it's

still possible.

It could happen in the future.

So, we need to use would.

It would be very hot.

How did you do on this quiz?

Let me know in the comments what your score was but before we go let's review all of these

ways to use could, would and should.

Could, a suggestion.

You could go to a bar.

A polite request.

Could you help me?

Can in the past.

When I was as child, I could play outside all day.

A possibility in the future.

It could rain tomorrow.

Would, a polite request.

Would you help me?

Will in the past.

When I lived near the beach, I would swim every day.

A hypothetical situation.

If I ate fast food every day, I would gain weight.

Should, strong advice.

I should wake up earlier.

Polite advice.

You should probably call him.

Feel free to check out the description below this video so that you can see a time stamp

for when I talked about each of these versions so that you can go back and review them.

Now I have a challenge for you.

In the comments, tell me if I visited your city, where could I go to get a good view?

Give me a polite suggestion with could.

Or you could use another modal verb to practice them.

Thanks so much for learning English with me and I'll see you again next Friday for a new

lesson here on my YouTube channel.

Bye.

The next step is to download my free E-book, Five Steps To Becoming a Confident English

Speaker.

You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.

Thanks so much.

Bye.