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  • PAST MODALS Explanations

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    Lucía Molinari
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    The document discusses past modal verbs that can be used for deduction about past events or situations. Modal verbs like "must have", "might have", "may have", and "can't have" followed by a past participle verb are used to express different levels of certainty about possibilities in the past based on available information. "Must have" indicates certainty that something happened. "Might have" and "may have" suggest something was possible. And "can't have" means something was not possible.

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    PAST MODALS explanations

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    The document discusses past modal verbs that can be used for deduction about past events or situations. Modal verbs like "must have", "might have", "may have", and "can't have" followed by a past participle verb are used to express different levels of certainty about possibilities in the past based on available information. "Must have" indicates certainty that something happened. "Might have" and "may have" suggest something was possible. And "can't have" means something was not possible.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    6 views5 pages

    PAST MODALS Explanations

    Uploaded by

    Lucía Molinari
    The document discusses past modal verbs that can be used for deduction about past events or situations. Modal verbs like "must have", "might have", "may have", and "can't have" followed by a past participle verb are used to express different levels of certainty about possibilities in the past based on available information. "Must have" indicates certainty that something happened. "Might have" and "may have" suggest something was possible. And "can't have" means something was not possible.

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    PAST MODALS

    Deductions
    EXPLANATION
    We can use modal verbs for deduction – guessing if
    something is true using the available information.
    The modal verb we choose shows how certain we
    are about the possibility.

    1
    must have + verb past participle
    We are sure that something happened.

    Who told the newspapers about



    the prime minister's
    plans? It must have been someone close to him.
    The thief must have had a key. The door was locked and
    nothing was broken.
    Oh, good! We've got milk. Mo must have bought some
    yesterday.

    3
    might have / may have
    could have + verb past participle
    We think it's possible that something happened.

    think I might have left the air conditioning on. Please can you
    check?
    Police think the suspect may have left the country using a
    fake passport.

    4
    can't have + verb past participle
    We think it's not possible that something happened.

    She can't have driven there. Her car keys are still here.
    I thought I saw Adnan this morning but it can't have been
    him – he's in Greece this week.

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