Our first modal is... our second modal... and finally...

Be allowed to, be supposed to and be able to.

So first, I would like to start with be able to.

The easier modal for be able to is can, and the negative, can't.

So I'll begin with an example.

All right, our friend Bob...has five fingers, hopefully, OK, our friend Bob has a problem.

He has a lot of problems but, ah, the major problem is, unfortunately, Bob has no nose.

So, he, if we can make a sentence with can and can't, Bob can't breathe.

Maybe you were thinking Bob can't smell. Very sad.

Ah, maybe now, I take away Bob's arms.

Now, Bob can't do many things, ah, for example, Bob can't write.

Bob can't play basketball.

Very sad, many problems. Now, maybe I take Bob's eyes. Bob can't see.

I take Bob's... and now Bob can't eat.

It's all very sad. Now finally, Bob died.

So if we can take this easy modal,can and can't, now we have the same modal, same meaning, but can, can't would be informal and be able to would be more formal but it's the same meaning.

So we can easily change these sentences from can, can't to be able to.

So you can see we're using be, am, is, are.

So, for example, he has no nose, OK, we understand that, so Bob am, is, are, is, negative, not able to breathe or smell.

Same here, he is able to write, and negative, he isn't able to write.

So very easily, we can change these sentences from informal to formal.

Now, for example, all right, here we have Bob again.

No problems. Bob has no problems. Bob has a beer, OK, so, he is drinking alcohol.

He is forty years old. All right, this is no problem.

He is able to drink alcohol and our new modal, if you remember, be allowed to.

He's forty years old, so, in the law in Turkey, Bob, he is also allowed to drink alcohol.

He's forty years old, the police say it's OK for Bob to drink alcohol. His mother says it's OK for Bob to drink alcohol.

Now if I change Bob to fourteen years old, what happens?

He is able to drink alcohol, because he has hands, he has a mouth, so he can physically drink alcohol, but, he isn't allowed to drink alcohol because now Bob is fourteen years old.

Bob's mother says he cannot drink alcohol. The police say Bob cannot drink alcohol.

Let's look at another example.

Bob is at home and Bob is playing with his playstation. OK, not a very good artist So Bob is fourteen years old.

He's at home. He's playing with his playstation and let's say it is 14.00.

So it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon and Bob's mother says it's OK, you can play the playstation right now.

So,he is allowed to play playstation at 14.00.

His mother says it's OK. His father says it's OK. But, let's change the time to 22.00.

Now, its very late at night and he should be a sleep. So now his mother says no, you cannot play playstation. It's very late at night.

So,he isn't allowed to play playstation, unfortunately.

Let's do one more example.

All right, Bob has a gun. All right, he is, let's say, eighteen years old and he isn't allowed to kill anyone.

Right, this is, the police say you cannot kill anyone.

But let's say Bob's friend is very angry, and Bob's friend also has a gun and Bob's friend wants to kill Bob, so now he is allowed to kill his friend because his friend wants to kill Bob.

So now the law is different. Now everything changes.

So, just remember that is and -ed is important. What happens if we change it to I we change this to am and if we change it to we becomes are.

So technically, this is a passive modal because of the -ed,so always remember to do -ed as well.

So we have one more modal to talk about today and that is be supposed to.

But before we talk about be supposed to let's look one more time at be allowed to.

So I have some examples of some laws from different countries around the world, and these are actually some very crazy laws.

They're crazy, but true.

So I will read one of these laws to you and then you can guess which country do you think has this law.

So our first one, for example, in which country, OK, are you not allowed to jump off a building?

And we'll put our preposition here, in which country are you not allowed to jump off a building?

So I'll let you think about the answer... This one the answer is America, specifically New York.

I think it's crazy because if you jump off a building, you will probably die but I guess this is a law that became necessary in New York.

How about another one, for example, in which country is it illegal for a taxi to carry wild dogs and dead people?

So in which country is it not allowed for a taxi to carry wild dogs and dead people?

The answer is France. Unfortunately, this is not allowed in France. A couple more... in which country are you not allowed to leave your house with no underwear?

This is not allowed in Thailand, I'm sorry.

And finally, in which country is it not allowed to get on the internet?

And in this country, if you get on the internet, you can go to prison.

And this country would be Burma. In Burma, you are not allowed to get on the internet.

So finally, let's look at be supposed to.

Again it's a modal and it's very similar grammar, but this one the meaning is very different.

This one is similar to expect.

What do people expect from you?

For example, in Turkey, if you go to a wedding in Turkey, what are you supposed to bring?

So think about if you go to a wedding in Turkey, I know the first thing I learned is that you are supposed to bring gold.

Especially if I really like this person and if they're important to me I am supposed to bring them gold in Turkey.

Ah, but what about other countries, though?

For example, we'll do a yes/no question, are you supposed to bring gold in America?

In America, no, you are not, right, you are not supposed to bring gold in America, to a wedding.

In other countries, there is very different wedding traditions. Ah, for example, in which country are you supposed to paint the bride all white?

The woman, she wears all white and they paint her face white.

In which country? In Japan you are supposed to paint the bride all white.

A very interesting tradition.

And many countries will have their interesting traditions also.

So let's look at our friend Bob again.

Let's say that Bob is in China and he's at a, a dinner party for business, maybe it's a work dinner party.

So, in China, can he, can he drink alcohol at a dinner party in China?

So yes, he can, and he is able to drink alcohol because he has arms, he has a mouth, so he is able to drink alcohol at a business party in China.

Is he allowed to? He is allowed to drink alcohol.

It's OK in China and the law says it's OK, and is he supposed to drink alcohol in China at a dinner party for business?

In China, yes, if you are at a business dinner in China you are supposed to drink alcohol.

They want you to drink alcohol at a dinner party.

But, if I change the country to, for example, America, what should we change?

For example, he is able to drink, this is the thing, in America, of course, you are able to drink. Is he allowed to drink?

Of course, he is allowed to drink, but is he supposed to drink alcohol at a dinner party for business in America?

No, we have to change this.

Because the culture is different.

So he's not supposed to drink alcohol at a dinner party in America for business.

So I'm sure in Turkey we have many, many traditions also.

Ah, for example, if you are at a party in Turkey you are supposed to bring possibly dessert or some food and what do you do when you open the door and you come into the house?

You are supposed to, first you take off your shoes.

So these are very important traditions and every culture will have these traditions.

In America, when you come to a dinner party you are not supposed to take off your shoes.

So again, very interesting cultures, all around the world.

So today we have looked at three modals.

We have looked at able to, allowed to and supposed to.

And again if we look at the infinitive we use be able to, be allowed to and be supposed to.

Of course you will change this depending on I, you, he, she, it, we and they.

So thank you very much again for joining me today in the Speak English® online video series and I hope you have enjoyed the lesson.