This week Revision

SPECULATION & DEDUCTION  (unit 3A)

There are many ways of saying that something will probably or possibly happen in English.

Probable

bound to = certain: "They are bound to succeed!"

sure to = certain: "He is sure to win the championship."

likely to = probable: "We are likely to win the contract."

likely/ unlikely: "An election is likely next year." “ That’s unlikely to happen”

will definitely happen: "There will definitely be a storm later."

will probably happen: "They will probably take on more staff."

Be bound + to-infinitive is used to refer to future events which are certain or very likely to happen:

Kevin is stuck in a traffic jam, so he is bound to be late.

Be likely + to-infinitive and it is likely + that-clause are used for future events which are probably going to happen:

Smokers are more likely to develop lung cancer compared to non-smokers.
It is likely that he will win the race.

The modal verbs can, could, may, might, should, will, would and must  are used to show that we believe something is certain, probable or possible:

Possibility:

We use the modals could, might and may to show that something is possible in the future, but not certain:

They might come later. (= Perhaps/Maybe they will come later.)
They may come by car. (= Perhaps/Maybe they will come by car.)
If we don’t hurry we could be late. (= Perhaps/Maybe we will be late)

We use could have, might have and may have to show that something was possible now or at some time in the past:

It’s ten o’clock. They might have arrived now.
They could have arrived hours ago.

We use the modal can to make general statements about what is possible:

It can be very cold in winter. (= It is sometimes very cold in winter)
You can easily lose your way in the dark. (= People often lose their way in the dark)

We use the modal could as the past tense of can:

It could be very cold in winter. (= Sometimes it was very cold in winter.)
You could lose your way in the dark. (= People often lost their way in the dark)

Impossibility:

We use the negative can’t or cannot to show that something is impossible:

That can’t be true.
You cannot be serious.

We use couldn’t/could not to talk about the past:

We knew it could not be true.
He was obviously joking. He could not be serious.

Probability:

We use the modal must to show we are sure something to be true and we have reasons for our belief:

It’s getting dark. It must be quite late.
You haven’t eaten all day. You must be hungry.

We use must have for the past:

They hadn’t eaten all day. They must have been hungry.
You look happy. You must have heard the good news.

We use the modal should to suggest that something is true or will be true in the future, and to show you have reasons for your suggestion:

Ask Miranda. She should know.
It's nearly six o'clock. They should arrive soon.

We use should have to talk about the past:

It's nearly eleven o'clock. They should have arrived by now.

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GO PRACTISE further : HERE

• Did you get stuck with GET and its uses? Then GO HERE and practise further.

• For the use of " THE SAKE OF..." GO HERE!

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