The Iraqi EFL University Students Use of Modals in Requests and Offers as Politeness Markers

Iraqi EFL university students are expected to encounter a difficulty of appropriately using modal auxiliaries to express politeness. This is supported by Quirk, et al. (1985:220), who argue that the use of modal verbs is one of the more problematic areas of English grammar. Although, traditionally most of these verbs are paired into past and nopast forms, e. g., (can could, may might, will would, shall should), the past forms are rarely usefully classified as such from the point of view of meaning. These verbs are often used for pragmatic purpose, e.g., in requests and offers. This is also supported by Crystal (2003 b.: 212), who points out that such verbs express meanings which are much less definable, focused, and independent than of lexical verbs.