What are modal verbs?

Possibility
Modal verbs can be used when we want to show how likely something is to happen. For example:

Ability
Modal verbs can be used when we want to show a skill or someone's ability to do something. For example:

Obligation and advice
Modal verbs can be used to state when something is necessary/compulsory, to give an instruction or to give advice. For example:

Permission
Modal verbs are used to give or ask for permission for an activity. For example:

As of September 2014 the national curriculum requires children to be taught grammar more explicitly.

Children will be familiar with words such as will, would, should, could, can, may, might, shall, must and ought to in KS1 and lower KS2 through reading and most likely use them in their writing. However, in Year 5 children will be formally taught the grammatical term modal verb.

In Year 5 children should be able to identify modal verbs in texts when reading and will be shown the different effects of using modal verbs in their writing via teacher modelling and they will most likely be given exercises or short writing tasks to complete. Children may be asked to highlight modal verbs in a text, discuss the effect of a modal verb on a sentence when reading, and choose a modal verb to complete a sentence or change a modal verb to alter a sentence in a writing task.