2020-03-04 Grammar: speculating about the present

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - Notes from all classes
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A man is lying awake in bed. He makes a phone call, says nothing, and goes to sleep.
- Why? What happened?
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Modals for speculation (about the past, present or future)
- The main difference is that when we’re speculating (predicting) things we’re sure about in the future, we can use “will”, but when it’s about the past or present, we use “must”.

“Should” is most commonly used to give advice, so sometimes it sounds like advice instead of a prediction. If you want to make it clear that you’re predicting something, use “will probably”.
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p. 260 exercise 4 - With your partner, make one prediction with each level of certainty about the end of this century (the year 2100).
1 Cars will be able to fly.
2 We’ll probably have space tourism.
3 Everybody might be dead. / We might have guns that shoot lasers.
4 There may not be zombies.
5 The United States will probably not be the strongest nation.
6 People won’t die easily.
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“We should have space tourism by 2100.”
- No one will think this is advice, because it’s not something I can control.

“You should be home by 5.”
- This could be advice or a prediction. We need more context to be sure.
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When we speculate or infer about the present, it’s because we have some evidence and we want to explain it.
She must be sick. = This is the only explanation I can think of. I’d be surprised if I were wrong.
She may/might/could be sick. = This is one possible explanation.
She may/might not be feeling well. = This is one possible explanation.
She must not be feeling well. = The only explanation is she feels bad. I’d be surprised otherwise.
She can’t be sick. I just saw her at the beach. = I think this is impossible.
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She must not be at home. = I understand that I could be wrong, but this is what I believe.
She couldn’t be at home. = I don’t understand how I could be wrong. I know it takes her a long time to get home and I know she just left work, so it’s impossible that she’s already at home now.
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“Should” for advice means this is the best option (but there are other options).
“Should” for inferences means this is the best explanation (but there are other explanations).
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p. 262 exercise 5 - Complete the paragraphs.
1 a should (It’s not the only possibility - ‘b’ and ‘c’ are also possible - but it is the most likely one)
  b may/might/could
  c may/might/could
2 a shouldn’t
  b shouldn’t
  c can’t (If all my friends think I’m in NYC, I don’t think it’s possible that it’s one of them.)
  d must
3 a might not / may not
  b should (I’m not 100% sure, but I’m more sure than not, because I have a reason to believe this.)
  c must
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Homework: finish this exercise (4, 5, 6, 7)