MODAL VERBS FOR SPECULATION AND DEDUCTION

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SPECULATION& DEDUCTION CERTAINTY

Wecanuse“must”,“can’t”and “couldn’t”toexpressthatwearefairly certainaboutsomething

Forpresentsituation,themodal verbs“must”“can’t”and“couldn’t” arefollowedbytheinfinitivewithout to.

Ihaven’tsleptfortwodays. Youmustbeexhausted!

Icanhearsinging,sowecan’tbefar fromthestadium.

Thecontinuousformcanalsobeused.

Whyishewearinghisuniform? Hecouldn’tbegoingtoschool–it’s Saturdaytoday.

Forpastsituationsweusethesame modalverbs+have+pastparticiple (theperfectinfinitivewithoutto).

Ican’tfindmybook. Imusthaveleftitatschool.

Thisessayispoor. Youcan’thavespentlongonit. Thecontinuousformcanalsobe used.

Theroad’swet. Itmusthavebeenraining.

“mustn’t”isnotnormallyusedto makedeductionsaboutpresentorpast situations.Weusecan’tinstead.

We’vebeenwalkingforhours. Itcan’tbefarfromhere.

(NOTItmustn’tbefar)

POSSIBILITY

Ifwearenotcertainaboutsomethingbut thinkitispossible,wecanuse“may(not)”, “might(not)”,or“could(butnotcouldnot).”

Forpresentsituation,thesemodalverbs arefollowedbytheinfinitivewithoutto. Thecontinuousformisalsopossible.

John’snotansweringmyemails. Hemightbeonholiday.

Hecouldbetellingthetruth,butit’s hardtobelieve.

Forpastsituationsweusethesame modalverbs+have+pastparticiple (theperfectinfinitivewithoutto). Thecontinuousformisalsopossible.

Ithinkwemayhavetakethewrongroad. Thisdoesn’tlookfamiliar.

Samlookedsad.Hemightnothavebeen feelingwell.

Note:Itisnotpossibletouse“can”when speculatingaboutpresentorpastsituations.

-formingnegatives

Negativesareformedbyadding‘not’after themodalverbs,notaftertheauxiliaryhave. :modal+not+have+pastparticiple modalnothavepastparticiple

✓Hemaynothave beenthere

✗Hemayhavenot beenthere.

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