Your five rules
Read out the five rules you wrote down. Then keep going for ninety seconds — everything else you can think of about how your workplace or your course works.
Your teacher is writing down which modal you use for each. Most A2 speakers use two of the six available.
Seven workplace words. Match each to what it actually means.
Two people describe the same job
Yara · the written rules
We have to clock in by eight. If you are late three times in a month you get a formal warning, so people take it seriously.
You must wear the safety boots on the floor — that one is not negotiable, it is a legal thing. You mustn't use your phone anywhere past the yellow line.
You don't have to work Saturdays. Some people do, for the overtime, but nobody has to.
Onur · the unwritten ones
Nobody tells you this, but you should get in about ten minutes early. Not because you have to — because everybody does, and the person who arrives at exactly nine gets noticed.
You can eat at your desk, technically. You shouldn't, though. People do it and then wonder why nobody talks to them.
And you don't have to go to the Friday drinks. You really don't. But you should go to about one in three.
Both texts describe rules. Answer from the evidence on the page.
1. Yara says You mustn't use your phone past the yellow line. What does that mean?
2. She also says You don't have to work Saturdays. What does that mean?
3. So what is the relationship between mustn't and don't have to?
4. Onur uses should and shouldn't for everything. Why not must?
Six modals, six meanings
The system
| Modal | Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
must / have to | obligation — you have no choice | You must wear boots. |
mustn't | prohibition — it is forbidden | You mustn't use your phone. |
don't have to | no obligation — optional | You don't have to work Saturdays. |
can | permission — it is allowed | You can eat at your desk. |
can't | no permission — not allowed | You can't park here. |
should / shouldn't | advice — a good or bad idea | You should get in early. |
The pair that matters. Positive, must and have to are close enough to swap. Negative, they are opposites:
You mustn't smoke here. → it is forbidden
You don't have to smoke here. → nobody is making you (and you may)
Portuguese não precisa maps onto don't have to, and não pode onto mustn't or can't. The trap is that the English pair looks symmetrical and is not.
Match each sentence to what it actually means. Two of them are the pair that gets reversed.
Get the meaning right
One or two words per gap. Choose the modal from the meaning, not from the words around it.
You clock in by eight — it is in the contract and there is no flexibility. You use your phone past the yellow line; it is a safety rule and people have been dismissed for it. You work Saturdays, but some people do for the overtime. You eat in the canteen or at your desk, whichever you prefer. Nobody says this, but you get in ten minutes early — it is not a rule, it is just what everybody does.
Five sentences where the modal says the wrong thing. Rewrite each so it means what was intended.
1. You don't have to smoke in the building. — meant: it is forbidden
2. You mustn't come in on Saturday. — meant: it is optional
3. You must arrive early. — meant: it is a good idea
4. You should wear a helmet. — meant: it is a legal requirement
5. You don't have to park here. — meant: it is not allowed
Brief the new person
Task card · Speaking · Diagnostic
Somebody starts at your workplace on Monday. You have two minutes to tell them what they need to know.
All six modals, each for its right meaning. At least two obligations, one prohibition, one thing they do not have to do, one permission, and two pieces of advice.
- Start with the things that are actually rules, then the things that are only expected.
- Be explicit about the difference: You have to… but you don't have to…
- Then your teacher asks five questions about what is allowed, and you answer.
Two decisions.
1. Phones are forbidden in the workshop. Which?
2. Saturday work is optional. Which?
Which modals you used
Your teacher logged both attempts.
1. In the warm-up, how many of the six modals did you use?
2. Which two were they?
3. Did you get the mustn't / don't have to pair right in the briefing?
Before Lesson 2
One question.
1. You don't have to wear a tie. May you wear one?
Informal input, before Lesson 2. One episode of The Office (US, series one) with English subtitles. Note five things that are clearly against the rules of that workplace, and five that are merely unwise.
Write each as a sentence with a modal in it. Next lesson we check which modal you chose.