Faith: Hello.
John: Hi. Could I speak to Faith, please?
Faith: This is Faith.
John: Faith! This is John.
Faith: Hi John! How are you doing?
John: Great! You know, I was thinking about phone calls and how they connect with an important area of grammar modal verbs. We use modal verbs to help change the meaning of other verbs.
Faith: I can think of a couple of modal verbs that are especially useful when describing or making phone calls: can and could. Let's explore both of them.
John: "Can" suggests ability. Here's an example: Imagine you are sitting with family or friends. You hear the phone ring and perhaps everyone looks around to see who is going to answer the phone. You say: I can answer the phone.
The main verb is "answer". In this case, the modal "can" suggests ability. You are able to answer the phone. You may or may not want to answer the phone.
Faith: Another modal is very important when making phone calls: could. One of its uses is to express a polite request or suggestion. For example, when you called me, John, you said Could I speak to Faith, please? The use of the modal "could" along with the word "please" communicates politeness.
John: If I had said, "I want to talk to Faith". My meaning would have been understood. But Faith might have thought that I was being too direct, familiar, or demanding. In other words, she might have thought I was being rude.
Faith: Well, you are rude, but not because of how you speak to people on the phone.
John: Hey! That's not nice!

Originally published at https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a...