way2go! 7. Coursebook, Schulbuch

81 Modal verbs to express likelihood Listen to the two conversations and tick the statement which fits best. The people are … a making plans for the future together. b speculating about what is going on/has happened. c sharing facts they’re not sure about. d misunderstanding each other. Listen again and fill in the gaps with the words from the conversations. 1 Someone at them by now. 2 The mailman it to your door as we speak. 3 He his hair. 4 We able to find him. Read the information on modal verbs and then do the tasks below. LANGUAGE 29 a 11 M pp. 32/33 b 30 a We can use modal verbs to say how likely we think it is that something is true when we have no direct knowledge of the facts. Wayward College is a good college. (this is a fact) Wayward College must be a good college because so many students want to go there. (it is likely that this is the case) We can speculate about the present and the past in this way: Wayward College must be a good university. (present – general statement) They must have received thousands of applications last year. (past) They must be reviewing this year’s applications right now. (present – right now) a He should still be at home. b He may still be at home. c He must still be at home. d He might still be at home. See Grammar revisited, Modal verbs , p. 175. Rank the following statements from 1 (most likely) to 4 (least likely): Now look at the sentences in 29b again and make them sound more likely or less likely. Example: Someone should have looked at the applications by now. Someone must have looked at the applications by now. (more likely) Someone might have looked at the applications by now. (less likely) Get into groups of three and prepare conversations about the following situations. 1 One of you has been texting with a girl/boy they like and aren’t sure about the meaning of a text. “He/she must be angry with me.” – “Or he/she might just be insecure. He/she might be sitting at home right now thinking about you,” etc. 2 You can’t find an object that is important to you and are wondering where it might be. “It can’t be in my bag because I have already looked there.” – “Could you have put it in your locker?” 3 your own idea Act out your conversations in class. b WRITING + SPEAKING 31 a b Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv