melvin jacqueline modal verbs modal auxiliary verbs workbook

Table of ContentsModal Auxiliary Verbs Pre-test Check your answers/pre-test Modal verbs of deduction to speculate on present statesExercise one Check your answers/exercise one Exercise t

Modal Auxiliary Verbs

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Table of Contents

Modal Auxiliary Verbs

Pre-test

Check your answers/pre-test

Modal verbs of deduction to speculate on present statesExercise one

Check your answers/exercise one

Exercise two

Modals of deduction must/can’t

Check your answers/exercise two

Exercise six/progressive modals

Check your answers/exercise six

Modal verbs of deduction for future intentions

Perfect modals when referring to past assumptionsExercise seven

Check your answers/exercise seven

Further instances of predicted degrees of possibilityMust/may/might/could + present perfect continuous

Can/could/be able to

Exercise eight

Check your answers/exercise eight

Be able to versus manage to

Exercise nine

Check your answers/exercise nine

Can/could and may for permission

Can versus allowed to for permission

Can and could for requests, offers, suggestions and recommendationsExercise ten

Check your answers/exercise ten

Check your answers/exercise twelve

Shouldn’t versus don’t have to/doesn’t have to

Check your answers/exercise fifteen

Exercise sixteen

Check your answers/exercise sixteen

Should versus must versus have to

Check your answers/exercise seventeen

Check your answers exercise sixteen

Should and ought to for past advice/recommendations

Modals test

Exercise seventeen

Check your answers/exercise seventeen

Should + progressive forms

Should + present perfect continuous structure

Exercise eighteen

Check your answers/exercise seventeen

The should progress test

Exercise eighteen

Check your answers/exercise eighteen

Should versus be supposed to versus be meant to

When ‘should’ no longer overlaps with ‘be supposed to’ and ‘be meant to’Had better versus should and ought to

Shall versus will

Will and would

Ambiguity

Exercise nineteen

Check your answers/exercise nineteen

The book begins with a pre-test with a link which takes you to theanswers After the pre-test the modal auxiliary verbs begin from thesimpler ones and progress on to more difficult ones There are clearexplanations on how to use them followed by exercises with easilyaccessible answers

What are modal auxiliary verbs?

Modal auxiliary verbs have long been a nightmare for anyone learningEnglish as a second language This particular aspect of the Englishlanguage is probably the one in which learners find the most complicated.Without context the lexical meaning of modal auxiliary verbs becomesextremely vague

With their parallelisms and overlapping meanings they become a messybusiness At times the negative takes a shift in meaning causing moreconfusion than ever

Modal auxiliary verbs are used to express varying degrees of certainty,

expectation, lack of expectation, and so forth

These tricky aspects of the English language are used with great frequency

by native speakers Very often non native learners of English are unable tograsp their subtleties due to their range of meanings

In this book you will find out how to use each modal

What are the facts about modal auxiliary verbs?

They are defective as they have no infinitive and no future

They can never be combined with one another

They express the mood of the speaker

They modify the meaning of verbs In fact the word modal indicates

to modify.

The verb they modify is in the ‘bare infinitive’ (the infinitive without

to) when used in the present tense.

Modals do not inflect They do not change according to the subject so

there is no ‘s’ in third person singular; they are the same in all

To make modals negative, we put the particle not between the modal

auxiliary verb and the verb it modifies

Example

He will not come.

He might not come.

He would not like to live in the city.

When forming questions we invert the modal auxiliary verb with thesubject

He would like /would he like to live in the city?

We use each modal based on the accuracy of our knowledge

The primary modal auxiliary verbs in English are as follows

Can/could, may/might, shall/should, will/would, and must

supposed to, be meant to, be able to, be unable to, be allowed to, be supposed to and be meant to, which share the characteristics of modal

auxiliary verbs

Think carefully about the differences in meanings in the following sentences then check your answers in the final section

of the book under ambiguity.

a) You can stay at my house when you come to London

b) You could stay at my house when you come to London

a) Could you translate this?

b) Were you able to translate this?

The phone’s ringing Who can it be at this time?

a) You might have told me you were going to be late

b) You could have said so

Now think carefully about the difference in meaning between the following two sentences.

to do next

to repay the money he had stolen.

a) was supposed to be guard

b) was meant to be guarding

c) should be guarding

d) must have guarded

7 The puppy we got from the dog pound asheepdog but it turned out to be nothing like one

a) was supposed to be

b) might have been

c) was meant be

d) must be

the train What time’s the next one?

a) should have missed

b) must have missed

c) will have missed

d) would have missed

9 We paying so many taxes if we had hired agood accountant

a) would avoid

c) could have avoided

d) should have avoided

10 I wish I _ his face when you told him hehad won the jackpot

a) would have seen

b) might have seen

c) could have seen

d) could /could have

12 The actor revealed that he at the opportunity

to play the leading role It has always been his dream

_ my brother, sister and I an ice-cream.

a) would buy

b) should buy

c) may buy

d) would have bought

15 You told her It was supposed to be asurprise

c) would have phoned

d) shall have phoned

18 Where on earth can Mary be? She heretwenty minutes ago

a) should be

b) ought have been

c) was supposed to be

d) might have been

19 If I hadn’t wasted so much time when I was at school, I in such a low paid job

a) could have got

b) would have got

c) should have got

d) will have got

21 We to the airport earlier then we our flight

a) would have gone/shouldn’t have missed

b) should have went/wouldn’t miss

c) should have gone/wouldn’t have missed

d) might have gone/couldn’t have missed

22 You the meat from the butcher’s This stuffyou got from the supermarket is low quality I don’t want to eat it

a) would have got

b) should have got

c) may have got

d) shall have got

23 It’s been snowing for days now If I were you I travel in these awful weather conditions.

c) would never have met

d) could never have met

28 There are three possible answers to the following question Which onesare they?

If you go to the supermarket today, you get mesome groceries?

c) may have received

d) can’t have received

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS/PRE-TEST

1 We think you ought to know that your wife has been seen with another man.

There is a ‘to’ before ‘know’ Ought is the only one that can be used for this reason.

2 Give me one good reason why we should believe him after all the lies he has told us.

The use of should = why you expect us to believe him.

3 Mobile merger talks could begin as soon as April, suggested the CEO on a phone call with analysts last week.

The correct answer is – could begin = possibility

Would begin = hypothetically so we need an if clause.

Are supposed to begin – we need to after be supposed – are supposed to begin

Will probably begin we need to use will with probably for future predictions

4 He decided to do everything he could to stop the news from going to press.

The correct answer is could = he decided to do everything possible.

5 He said he couldn’t wait to go on holiday He was so tired after having worked night and day for the past six months.

In direct speech we say: I can’t wait, which = to wait anxiously with pleasure In reported speech, can becomes could.

6 A transit van security guard stole the money he was supposed to be guarding At the court hearing, he openly admitted to being the thief and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and ordered to repay the money he had stolen.

Be supposed to = duty or expectation

It was his duty to guard in that moment.

7 The puppy we got from the dog pound supposed to be a sheepdog but it turned out to be nothing like one.

It was expected to be

8 There’s nobody waiting at the train station We must have missed the train What time’s the next one?

Must + perfect form = strong reason to believe

9 We could have avoided paying so many taxes if we had hired a good accountant.

We had this possibility in the past/a missed opportunity

10 I wish I could have seen his face when you told him he had won the jackpot.

I wish I had had the opportunity to see his face

11 You would think Mark would have learned his lesson by now I really don’t think he ever will.

Would for what we imagine to be the case/hypothetical

12 The actor revealed that he would jump at the opportunity to play the leading role It has always been his dream.

Hypothetical would

13 He previously said he would attend the meeting but then at the last moment he changed his mind and didn’t come Will becomes would in reported speech.

Reported speech: He said he would

14 Whenever we went to the beach as children, my parents would buy my brother, sister and I an ice-cream.

Would for typical characteristic past behaviour

15 You shouldn’t have told her It was supposed to be a surprise.

You shouldn’t have told her = why did you tell her?

16 Instead of wasting hours in front of that computer screen, you ought to do something more concrete with your time, said Johnny’s mother.

Ought to do = you should do but with more of a tone of authority

17 I’m sorry I lost your phone number otherwise I would have phoned you to let you know I wasn’t going to come.

Hypothetical would + perfect tense for something that didn’t happen in the past and that is too late to change.

18 Where on earth can Mary be? She was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago.

This means it was expected of her/it doubles in meaning to mild obligation

19 If I hadn’t wasted so much time when I was at school, I wouldn’t be working in such a low paid job.

Mixed conditional: The condition is in the past and the result of the condition is ongoing in the present (Hypothetical would) 20.” Why did you cross that busy road when I told you not to,” said little Rory’s mother “You could have got run over.” The past passive condition: Could have got run over = there was this possibility.

21 We should have gone to the airport earlier then we wouldn’t have missed our flight.

This = why didn’t we go to the airport We wouldn’t have missed = hypothetically.

22 You should have got_ the meat from the butcher’s This stuff you got from the supermarket is low quality I don’t want to eat it.

You should have got = why didn’t you get? This is my past advice

23 It’s been snowing for days now If I were you I wouldn’t travel in these awful weather conditions.

The second conditional – they hypothetical would = I don’t think it is a good idea.

24 It’s expected that we will get the keys to our new home by Friday We should be getting the keys to our new home by Friday.

We should be getting = future expectation.

25 We really should be going now It’s beginning to get late (It’s better for us to go now/for us this is a good idea)

26 If it hadn’t been for that courageous fireman pulling me out of the fire, I wouldn’t be alive today.

This is the mixed conditional The third conditional which is introduced by the if clause to indicate something that happened

or didn’t happen in the past – with the result of the condition having a present result This is a cross between the third conditional and the second The fireman pulled me out of the fire in the past and I am alive now.

27 If I hadn’t missed my flight I would never have met my new boyfriend.

The third conditional – I missed my flight and I met my new boyfriend because of that.

28 There are three possible answers to the following question Which ones are they?

If you go to the supermarket today, would/will/could you get me some groceries?

Would/will/could are all used for making requests May is not.

29 I should be playing tennis with Robert this afternoon but I don’t think I will I feel a bit feverish This is expected of me

30 He will have received e-mail by now I think I’ll phone him and find out what he thinks of the proposal.

I predict that this is concluded before now.

MODAL VERBS OF DEDUCTION TO SPECULATE ON

PRESENT STATES

we are pretty certain about something We presume something to be highlylikely

In the same way we use the present simple for present facts (and habits),

we use must for present assumptions

Look at the following picture What can we deduce about what the math teacher wrote on the blackboard?

The teacher must be crazy

Read the deductions the following students made when they walked into the classroom

Checking understanding

Question: Do we know for sure she is crazy?

Answer: No we don’t But based on what she wrote on the blackboard wehave strong reason to believe so

Question: Do we know for sure that she is not normal?

Answer: No we don’t But we have strong reason to believe that she is not

normal What she wrote on the blackboard is not normal for a mathteacher

Common errors

She mustn’t be normal.

(must not) but can’t (cannot)

Must in the negative must not/mustn’t means prohibition – e.g you mustn’t walk on the grass (Notice in the botanic gardens) At a later stage in the

book we will take a look at this other aspect of must

More examples of modal auxiliary verbs for deduction

Chinese or not Chinese that is the question!

Situation one

Person A: “A removal van drew up outside the building and unloadedmany Chinese objects There were Chinese rugs, Chinese furniture, in factChinese everything Everything was taken into the house next door so our

Person B: “Did you see the new neighbours? Did they look Chinese?”

speaking as they were entering their new home and it sounded like theywere speaking Chinese.”

Also in the above example, we have strong reason to believe they are

almost certain – we are convinced that this is the case

It must be the postman

Situation two

Person A: “Who’s that ringing the doorbell?”

Person B: “It must be the postman It’s 10 o’clock and that’s the time he

always comes at

Checking understanding

Question: “Is it the postman at the door?”

Answer: “We don’t know but we strongly believe it is - due to the fact thatevery morning at 10 o’clock the postman rings the doorbell.”

Common errors

Many students want to know why we use the subject pronoun ‘it’ as seen

in the example ‘it must be the postman’ This is because ‘it’ refers to the

‘ringing’ It must be the postman (ringing the doorbell) The same applies

when stating who you are when making a phone call ‘Who’s speaking?

It’s John (speaking) – the subject pronoun is in third person singular

because it refers to the action of ‘speaking’ as opposed to makingreference to the caller

We can use ‘he’ must be the postman but in a different setting.

man and not the action)

Situation three

only has time to sleep for about four hours every night

Checking understanding

Question: “Is Johnny very tired?”

Answer: “We don’t know but we strongly believe he is tired due to the factthat he has three jobs.”

Situation four

Jane and Jack have bought another big top of the range car They must have a lot of money.

Checking understanding

Question: “Do they have a lot of money?”

Answer: “We don’t know but we strongly believe this to be the casebecause they buy expensive cars.”

When we know for sure that they have a lot of money, we use the present

simple tense for present facts - they have a lot of money’.

That's another top of the range car they’ve bought

MAY/MIGHT/COULD

Might / may / could carry a lesser possibility than must With must the

possibility Could is slightly less at about 40% but most of the time the

three of them are used interchangeably

The phone’s ringing It must be my Aunt Sally She said she’d ring this

afternoon (Higher degree of possibility as she said she would phone)

Remember, the degree of possibility always depends on how the speaker sees the situation.

Situation five

Dan hasn’t arrived in the office yet His colleagues are wondering where

he is

Colleague one: “It’s ten past nine Where can Dan be?”

afternoon if you remember well.”

He must have the flu

Colleague two: “Or he might not be able to find a parking space After

find a parking space.

Here we deduce that there is a 50/50 possibility that Dan is in a traffic jam

or that he has the flu or that he has difficulty in finding a place to park hiscar

As you can see from the above example, the negative of might and also may is might not and may not.

We do not contract the negative forms of might and may - might not and may not

He mightn’t be able to find a parking space

He mayn’t be able to find a parking space

deducing in the present tense

Example

He could not find a parking space This implies he was unable to find aparking space, so be careful It speaks about a past situation that did nothappen It means ‘he was unable to find a parking space’

assumptions If you want to express a present possibility in the negative,

past, as you will see in another section of the book, we can use couldn’t.

EXERCISE ONE

Now do the following exercise Complete the gaps with must/might/can’t

1 “Where’s dad?” “He be in the garage fixing his car but I’mnot sure.”

2 That be David’s mum over there in David’s garden She’s his

*spitting image

3 That be David’s mum over there in the garden It

be his sister She only looks about thirty and David is twenty five

4 Jack’s wife gave birth to twins yesterday so they be veryhappy

5 “Matilda told me that Jack left his wife.” “That be true Theylove each other very much I don’t believe it It’s just gossip.”

be my mum.”

7 Mauro has been studying English for over ten years His brotherSandro only started to study English last year Mauro speakEnglish much better than his brother

8 You never know! Sandro be able to speak English better thanMauro If you remember, he spent six months in London last year

*Spitting image = identical in appearance – used only for people and notobjects

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS/EXERCISE ONE

1 “Where’s dad?” “He might be in the garage fixing his car but I’m not sure.”

2 That must be David’s mum over there in David’s garden She’s his spitting image.

3 That can’t be David’s mum over there in the garden It must be his sister She only looks about thirty and David is twenty five.

4 Jack’s wife gave birth to twins yesterday so they must be very happy.

5 “Matilda told me that Jack left his wife.” “That can’t be true They love each other very much I don’t believe it It’s just gossip.”

6 “The phone’s ringing Who can it be?” “I don’t know but it might be my mum.”

7 Mauro has been studying English for over ten years His brother Sandro only started to study English last year Mauro must be able to speak English much better than his brother.

8 You never know! Sandro might be able to speak English better than Mauro If you remember, he spent six months in London last year.

EXERCISE TWO

MODALS OF DEDUCTION MUST/CAN’T

Fill the gaps below with must or can’t + one of the following infinitives.

Be-buy-have-like-think

1 “Who’s that boy walking down our neighbours’ garden path.?”

“It their grandson They said theyhad a teenage grandson and that boy looks about seventeen.”

tired He worked for over twelvehours yesterday

3 “Why do you think my girlfriend doesn’t want to see me anymore?”

“She you’re boring because all you

do is talk about yourself.”

4 “Sarah blushes every time she sees my brother.” “She him a lot Maybe she’s in love.”

5 “I love the way Nancy dresses Her clothes are beautiful but I neverseem to see them in any of the shops in our town.” “She does a lot ofinternet shopping so she themonline.”

Jenny doesn’t have a brother butshe does have a sister

a very clever girl

8 “I can’t find my glasses anywhere Has anybody seen them anywhere?”

“They in the house somewhere Youhaven’t been anywhere today.”

9 “Moira a lot of money I saw hershopping in that really expensive boutique.” “Oh didn’t you know? Shehas a new top notch job that pays her not double what she was getting paidbefore but triple.”

10 Fred a dog I saw him in the petshop buying a collar and a lead

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS/EXERCISE TWO

1 “Who’s that boy walking down our neighbours’ garden path.?” “It must be their grandson They said they had a teenage grandson and that boy looks about seventeen.”

2 Dad’s still asleep Don’t wake him up He must be tired He worked for over twelve hours yesterday.

3 “Why do you think my girlfriend doesn’t want to see me anymore?” “She must think you’re boring because all you do is talk about yourself.” (I strongly believe this to be the case)

4 “Sarah blushes every time she sees my brother.” “She must like him a lot Maybe she’s in love.”

5 “I love the way Nancy dresses Her clothes are beautiful but I never seem to see them in any of the shops in our town.”

“She does a lot of internet shopping so she must buy them online.”

6 I thought you said Tony was Jenny’s brother He can’t be Jenny doesn’t have a brother but she does have a sister.

8 “I can’t find my glasses anywhere Has anybody seen them anywhere?” “They must be in the house somewhere You haven’t been anywhere today.”

9 “Moira must have a lot of money I saw her shopping in that really expensive boutique.” “Oh didn’t you know? She has a new top notch job that pays her not double what she was getting paid before but triple.”

10 Fred must have a dog I saw him in the pet shop buying a collar and a lead.

EXERCISE THREE

Now look at the following picture of a boy and girl A teacher is asking thestudents their opinion about whether or not they are brother and sister Fill

Teacher: “Do you think they are brother and sister?”

Jack: “Yes, definitely They because they’ve got the same shape

of face and the same shape of eyes They’ve also got the same smile

Teacher: “And what about you Mary? Do you think they are brother andsister?”

Mary: “No they He’s got red hair and blue eyes and she’s gotdark brown hair and green eyes They don’t look one bit like each other.It’s impossible, in my opinion, that they are brother and sister.”

Teacher: “And you Sally What do you think?”

Sally: “Possibly I think they twins They are the same heightand if they were brother and sister, they would be different ages so theywould also be different heights.”

Teacher: “Do you think they are twins Paul?”

Paul: “No They They’re completely different from oneanother Twins normally look alike and they don’t

Teacher: “Do you think they are twins Janet?”

Janet: “They It’s hard to tell Maybe she looks like theirmother, if they are twins, and he looks like his father or vice versa.”

Teacher: “Joanne! What do you think?”

Joanne: “I don’t really know but they friends That’s apossibility.”

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS/EXERCISE THREE

Teacher: “Do you think they are brother and sister?”

Jack: “Yes, definitely They must be because they’ve got the same shape of face and the same shape of eyes They’ve also got the same smile.”

Teacher: “And what about you Mary? Do you think they are brother and sister?”

Mary: “No they can’t be He’s got red hair and blue eyes and she’s got dark brown hair and green eyes They don’t look one bit like each other It’s impossible, in my opinion, that they are brother and sister.”

Teacher: “And you Sally What do you think?”

Sally: “Possibly I’m sure they must be twins They are the same height and if they were brother and sister, they would be different ages so they would also be different heights.”

Teacher: “Do you think they are twins Paul?”

Paul: “No They can’t be They’re completely different from one another Twins normally look alike and they don’t.

Teacher: “Do you think they are twins Janet?”

Janet: They must be It’s hard to tell Maybe she looks like their mother, if they are twins, and he looks like his father or vice versa.

Teacher: “Joanne! What do you think?”

Joanne: “I don’t really know but they might be friends That’s a possibility.”

In the above examples, might be can be replaced with could be without altering the meaning.

EXERCISE FOUR

Now take a look at the following picture

Fill in the gaps with must be might be / can’t be

Person A: “What season do you think it is in the picture?”

Person B: “It summer They’re all wearing summer clothes.”Person A: “Yes of course It winter Nobody dresses like thatwhen it’s cold outside.”

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS/EXERCISE FOUR

Person A: “What season do you think it is in the picture?”

Person B: “It must be summer They’re all wearing summer clothes.”

Person A: “Yes of course It can’t be winter Nobody dresses like that when it’s cold outside.”

EXERCISE FIVE

Modals in the progressive

We also use must + bare infinitive + gerund to express strong certaintyabout something we believe to be in progress right now at the moment of

speaking or something in progress in this period This is the present

continuous form of must.

We can use all the modals in the progressive form according to degree ofcertainty We use them to indicate actions we believe to be in progress

now, or in this period or what we believe to be future arrangements.

Fill in the gaps with must be / might be /can’t be + gerund (In progressnow)

Person A: “Where do you think the children are going?”

Person B: “They to school because they are all carrying school

Person A: “They to school It’s four o’clock in the afternoon.They home.”

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS/EXERCISE FIVE

Person A: “Where do you think the children are going?”

Person B: “They must be going to school because they are all carrying school bags.”

Person A: “They can’t be going to school It’s four o’clock in the afternoon They must be going home.”

PROGRESSIVE MODALS

In the above example, the fact that the boss is soaking wet (very very wet)leads us to believe that there is a strong possibility that it is raining in thismoment It is almost certain If we are 100 per cent sure then we use the

present continuous – it is raining outside.

It must be raining outside

Person A: “Have you noticed how irritated the boss has been lately?”

Person B: “Yes I have He’s always so stressed looking and he *gets sosnappy when you ask him anything.”

sometimes until midnight.”

*To get snappy = to become very annoyed and speak badly to people

The boss must be working too much

The fact that the boss is so stressed and often stays in the office untilmidnight, leads us to this assumption

Person A: “Mark isn’t answering his phone.”

Person B: “He It must be sleeping He did night shift at the hospital andfinished at 8 am this morning It’s 9 o’ clock now.”

In the above example, based on the knowledge at hand, we have strongreason to believe that Mark is sleeping right now due to the fact that heworked all night

a very high degree of unlikelihood)

Note to remember

May is more formal than might.

Modal auxiliary verbs of deduction are also used with adjectives and nouns or adjectives + nouns as seen in one of the previous examples, “she can’t be his mother”.

adjective ‘Exhausted’ is the extreme adjective of ‘tired’ We can say ‘very tired’ but never ‘very exhausted’ However, with the extreme adjectives

we can use ‘really’, ‘absolutely’ and ‘extremely’ to reinforce the meaning

– thereby giving the meaning more emphasis

The boss must be exhausted When I went to speak to him last night hewas slumped over his desk *fast asleep.” Again, this is the present tense ofsomething we believe to be true When we are 100 per cent sure, then we

say – he is exhausted (A present fact)

*Fast asleep = in a very deep sleep.

An exhausted boss

EXERCISE SIX/PROGRESSIVE MODALS

Fill the gaps in the following exercise with must/might/may can’t + be +

gerund of the verbs in brackets Sometimes the negative is required

1 My son gave up on his studies to be a lawyer What a pity! If he hadn’t

he in his father’s legal studio instead of sittingabout doing nothing all day long (Work)

2 Mary completely ignored me when I saw her this morning I wonderwhat I’ve done wrong this time She to me.(Talk)

3 We’ve been invited to my cousin’s wedding in Australia but we can’treally afford to go

On the telephone: We to the wedding after all butwe’ll let you know as soon as we decide (Come)

4 It is possible that we will expand our business in the near future We our business in the near future (Expand)

5 Sally thinks she won’t make it to the party on Saturday Sally to the party on Saturday (Go)

6 Paul thinks it is highly unlikely that Jane is coming to work today It’snow 9.30 and she’s normally in the office before 9 Yesterday shecomplained about having a bad headache Jane towork today (Come)

possible that she is having breakfast She _ breakfast (Have)

8 Quick! Call an ambulance Grandpa isn’t breathing properly He a heart attack for all we know.(Have) - We thinkthere is the possibility that Grandpa is having a heart attack at the presentmoment

9 The postman today It’s already 1o’clock andthere are still no signs of him Maybe he’s ill (Come) - It seems veryunlikely that the postman will *show face today

*Show face = appear/make an appearance

10 I don’t know if I will be in the office tomorrow morning but I’ll let youknow by 5.30pm I to the dentist’s It all depends

on whether or not I can get an appointment I’ve phoned the dentist and hesaid he’ll try and fit me in somewhere (Go) - There is the possibility thatthe speaker is going to the dentist tomorrow

11 John has put on about three kilos since he opened the new restaurant

He too much (Eat) - We have strong reason tobelieve that in this period he is eating too much The evidence is the threekilos in weight that he has put on

12 Mary’s just been on the phone: She’s now in the Bahamas That’s thethird holiday she’s had in the space of six months She all the money she inherited from her Uncle Sam.(Spend) - We firmly believe that Mary is spending all her inheritance due

to the fact of the costly holidays she keeps having

13 “The boss nearly *bit my head off when I walked in to his office.”

“Don’t worry! He a bad day Remember, it’sMonday and he’s normally in a bad mood on Mondays.” (Have)

14 “Where’s dad? Has he gone out?” “I saw him leaving the bathroom

his car He said he wanted to wash it today.”(Wash)

a baby She looks about eight months’ pregnant.”(Have)

*To bite someone’s head off = to reply to them very angrily

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS/EXERCISE SIX

1 My son gave up on his studies to be a lawyer What a pity! If he hadn’t, he might be working in his father’s legal studio instead of sitting about doing nothing all day long (Work)

2 Mary completely ignored me when I saw her this morning I wonder what I’ve done wrong this time She can’t be talking

to me (Talk)

3 We’ve been invited to my cousin’s wedding in Australia but we can’t really afford to go.

On the telephone: We might not be coming to the wedding after all but we’ll let you know as soon as we decide (Come)

4 It is possible that we will expand our business in the near future We may be expanding our business in the near future (Expand) May is more adapt than might in this example due to the business context.

5 Sally thinks she won’t make it to the party on Saturday Sally might not be going to the party on Saturday (Go)

6 Paul thinks it is highly unlikely that Jane is coming to work today It’s now 9.30 and she’s normally in the office before 9 Yesterday she complained about having a bad headache Jane might not be coming to work today (Come)

7 Shirley isn’t answering her phone It’s 7.30 in the morning It is possible that she is having breakfast She might be having

breakfast.”(This is a possibility)

8 Quick! Call an ambulance Grandpa isn’t breathing properly He might be having a heart attack for all we know.

9 The postman can’t be coming today It’s already 1o’clock and there are still no signs of him Maybe he’s ill.

10 I don’t know if I will be in the office tomorrow morning but I’ll let you know by 5.30pm I might be going to the dentist’s.

It all depends on whether or not I can get an appointment I’ve phoned the dentist and he said he’ll try and fit me in somewhere.

11 John has put on about three kilos since he opened the new restaurant He must be eating too much (We have strong reason to believe that in this period he is eating too much The evidence is the three kilos in weight that he has put on)

12 Mary’s just been on the phone: She’s now in the Bahamas That’s the third holiday she’s had in the space of six months She must be spending all the money she inherited from her Uncle Sam (We firmly believe that Mary is spending all her inheritance due to the fact of the costly holidays she keeps having)

13 “The boss nearly *bit my head off when I walked in to his office.” “Don’t worry! He must be having a bad day Remember it’s Monday and he’s normally in a bad mood on Mondays.”

14 “Where’s dad? Has he gone out?” “I saw him leaving the bathroom with a bucket of soapy water and a sponge so he must be washing his car He said he wanted to wash it today.” (Wash)

15 “Look at the size of that woman’s belly.” “She must be having a baby She looks about eight months’ pregnant.” (Have)

In the above examples, we can replace might (in the affirmative but not in the negative) with could, without any change to the meaning.

MODAL VERBS OF DEDUCTION FOR FUTURE

INTENTIONS

progress now or actions we think are likely to happen in the future.

Just like we use the construction be going to + bare infinitive to express

future intentions, we add must when we have strong reason to believe thatsomething is a future intention

Compare

She is going to watch a film tonight (A future intention)

She must be going to watch a film tonight (We have strong reason to

believe that this is her intention for tonight) Maybe we see her looking atthe *‘what’s on the box’ page of the newspaper

*What’s on the box? = a British colloquialism which means ‘what’s on theTV?’

Person A: “I saw Sheila and Andy in the estate agency yesterday.”

believe that their intention is to buy a house)

believe that this is unlikely)

The modal auxiliary must be going to + bare infinitive is also used to

speculate about something we believe to be in progress right now as wespeak

Person A: “Is that Jill and James heading towards the bakery?”

son Jill told me that the new bakery makes lovely cakes.”

PERFECT MODALS WHEN REFERRING TO PAST

past participle of the verb to the modal in question They are not reallyperfect modals but are named so due to their present perfect construction

It must be cold outside (now) as everyone is walking around wearing

gloves and scarves

Now let’s see what happens when we remove the bare infinitive be and

replace it with the perfect form, that is the auxiliary verb have + the past participle of the verb, in this case the past participle of be.

It must have been cold outside We have now changed the meaning to “the

before now” We now add a past time expression (something we cannot

do with the present perfect simple, e.g he has been here this morning) tostate exactly when

window, everyone was walking around wearing gloves and scarves Weassume it was cold this morning due to the fact that everyone was wearinggloves and scarves

when referring to past deduction.

Let’s take another look at the blackboard

The situation: It is now the next day The students are casting their minds

back to yesterday Read the assumptions in the past that the students are

recalling to their memories now

impossible to believe that she wrote this)

else wrote it)

(Perhaps the teacher was distracted when she wrote it)

is a possibility that she was tired when she wrote it, therefore wasn’tconcentrating)

EXERCISE SEVEN

Fill the gaps in the exercise that follows with one of the modals of deduction which refer to the past – the before now

Can’t/must/might /may/could/might not

1 Person A: “I saw your brother yesterday when I was driving along theMain Street.”

Person B: “You have seen him He’s in China at themoment.”

2 Person A: “Jennifer’s family are all unemployed but they seem to have

a lot of money to spend At the moment they are building an extension to

the back of their house Fred saw them eating in that expensive restaurant

in Mulberry Road a few days ago.”

Person B: “They _ have won the lottery.” (The speaker thinksthis is a possibility and not a certainty)

Person A: “They _ have won the lottery Jennifer told me thatthey are completely against gambling.” (The speaker sees this asimpossibility)

3 Sammy passed all his exams He have studied really hardbecause normally he fails them all

4 Person A: “I met Jill this morning and she walked right past me withoutsaying hello.”

Person B: “She have seen you She would never have walkedpast you without saying hello That’s completely against her friendlynature.” (Person B believes that it is highly unlikely that Jill saw thespeaker this morning)

5 Your husband have been really happy when he was told hewas going to be promoted

6 How was it possible for him to get top marks in the English exam when

he never studies? He have cheated

7 Mike was fined for speeding He was also disqualified from driving forsix months and got six points on his license A police spokesman said “He have caused a serious accident, but luckily he didn’t.”

8 Breaking News

Many people have lost their lives after a boat full of immigrantscapsized off the Mediterranean coast a few minutes ago Police *frogmenhave been called in to search the rocky coastline Stay tuned for updates

*In British English, a frogman is a police officer who is part of an

underwater rescue team Frogmen are highly trained in scuba diving