way2go! 7. Coursebook, Schulbuch

175 You will remember that can , could , may , might , must , will , would , shall , should and ought to are all modal auxiliary verbs. You can use them to express ability, permission and obligation. (For a more detailed explanation of the use of modal verbs in different tenses, check your copy of way2go! 5.) You can also use modal verbs to express how sure you are that something (past or present) is true. Modal verbs to express likelihood Present Assertion: You use these modal verbs to express that you’re almost certain about something: When you are very sure that something is (not) true, you use: must or can’t + (continuous) infinitive Tarik must still be playing football. Otherwise he would have come home already. There are no lights on. Sue can’t be at home. Probable assumption: You use these modal verbs to indicate that you consider something likely: When you are fairly sure that something is probably (not) true, you use: should/shouldn’t/ought to + (continuous) infinitive We shouldn’t have trouble finding a taxi. There are enough around here. He left for university early, so he should be sitting in his economics lecture now. Possible or unlikely assumption: You use these modal verbs to say that something is possible, but you are not sure how likely it is: When you doubt that something is (not) true, or you believe that it’s unlikely, you use: could/may/might + (continuous) infinitive Maggie hasn’t arrived yet. She could be having trouble with her car. Paul might come to my birthday party, but I don’t really think he’ll show up. Past Assertion: You use these modal verbs to express that you’re almost certain that something happened in the past: must or can’t + perfect infinitive There are no lights on. Sue must have left already. Why are you handing in your test? You can’t have finished yet. Probable assumption: You use these modal verbs to indicate that you consider it likely that something happened in the past: should/shouldn’t/ought to + perfect infinitive Somebody should have processed your application by now. Why don’t you call and find out? Possible or unlikely assumption: You use these modal verbs to say that it’s possible that something happened in the past, but you are not sure how likely it is that it happened. could/may/might + perfect infinitive Sandra might have missed the train. Shall we call her and offer to get her? Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des V rlags öbv