The theory of MHD modes driven by strong E×Bvelocity shear in tokamaks given by Mikhailovskii and Sharapov (2000 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion42 57) is revised. It is suggested that, in the approximations taken by these authors, there are no MHD eigenmodes if the cross-field velocity shear is larger then the Alfvén frequency shear.