Modal verbs for speculation

Lingua e traduzione inglese I

Friday, 10 March 2017

The modal verbs for speculation (as well as for deduction) are used in the way which follows:

• must for certainty (we are sure a fact is true), e.g.: The light’s on. Ken must be at home;
• can’t/couldn’t for certainty (we are sure a fact is not true), e.g.: Jamie can’t/couldn’t be in the library. It’s closed;
• may/might/could for possibility (we are less sure), e.g.: The may/might/could be watching us.

In order to revise this type of verbs, you can take a look at the following (really short) video:

The underlying table gives you an overview of modal verbs for speculation tense.

ACTIVE
Present simple	Present continous
Modal verb + base form	Modal verb + be + -ing form
She might post pictures on her blog.	She might be posting pictures on her blog.
Present simple	Past continuous
Modal verb + have + past participle	Modal verb + have been + past participle
I couldn’t have slept well last night.	He could have been working late
PASSIVE
Past simple	Past continuous
Modal verb + be + past participle	Modal verb + have been + past participle
Something should be done.	He may have been delayed by a traffic jam.

Vocabulary

Some words and some locutions (above all about fashion) you should memorise:

• colours that clash loc. ‘colori che cozzano’
• disease n. ‘malattia’
• dreadful adj. ‘orribile’
• frumpy adj. ‘trasandato’ ↔ fashinable adj. ‘alla moda’
• porter n. ‘facchino’
• shopaholic n. ‘maniaco dello shopping’
• shopaholicism n. ‘mania dello shop’
• wedge n. ‘zeppa’

Locutions and Synonyms

The underlying notes will be useful for certain transformation words exercises:

• for a change = in contrast with one’s usual behaviour loc. ‘per una volta’
• in fashion = popular adj. ‘alla moda’
• in luck = lucky, fortunate adj. ‘fortunato’
• in the end = finally adv. ‘alla fine’
• no longer valid = out of date loc.‘scaduto’
• on purpose = deliberately adv. ‘di proposito’

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