Question

You ___ to have good manners.
( Fill in the blank with a suitable modal. )
(a) May
(b) Ought
(c) Should
(d) Must

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and try to understand the context of the given sentence. Choose the option which can best express the action being shown while keeping in mind that it should indicate a form of duty or obligation.

Complete answer: Modal verbs refer to those verbs or words that are used to indicate capability, probability or necessity. For example- Can, could, may, should, will, etc.
Let’s look at the usage of different modal verbs-
i. May- ‘May’ is used to indicate permission or possibility of something. For example- I may come tomorrow.
ii. Ought- ‘Ought’ is used with ‘to’. It is only used for indicating the present or the future. It is used to imply duty or obligation. For example- You ought to wish the elders.
iii. Should- ‘Should’ is used to denote obligation or a sense of duty. For example- They should write in the notebook.
iv. Must- ‘Must’ is used to indicate strict necessity or the possibility of something. For example- You must reach on time.
Now, in the context of the given question, we can see the use of ‘to’. Hence, the correct answer is; You ought to have good manners.
Here, we have used ‘ought’ because we already see the use of ‘to’ and the sentence indicates duty or obligation to do something.
Let’s examine the given options-
(a) May- It is an incorrect option because we cannot use ‘may’ with ‘to’.
(b) Ought- It is the correct option because ‘ought’ is always used with ‘to’.
(c) Should- It is an incorrect option because we cannot use ‘should’ with ‘to’.
(d) Must- It is an incorrect option because we cannot use ‘must’ with ‘to’.

Hence, the correct answer is Option ‘b’

Note: Always remember that ‘ought’ cannot be used without ‘to’. It functions in the verb phrase, as it is placed after the subject but before the verb.