2016-09-09 Grammar: modals for prediction

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - Notes from all my classes
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Ask yes/no questions to solve the first “mystery” on p. 257
This is called a “lateral thinking puzzle”.
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Modals for predictions and inferences.

We should be able to finish by the end of the week. I should be home in an hour. = expectation
	(This will probably happen.)

p. 259 exercise 1 - In pairs, decide what modal to use for each sentence.
1 will probably (“should decide” sounds like a suggestion, but “should know” would be okay here)
2 won’t
3 may/might (“could” can be a prediction about something else, but about a person it usually means ability, not possibility)
4 shouldn’t / probably won’t
5 should / will probably
6 may/might/could
7 may not / might not
8 may not / might not
9 may/might/could
10 will

Usually:
should/could + action I can choose = advice/ability
should/could + action I can’t choose = prediction (probably or possibly)
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Modals of inference:
must = this is the only explanation or conclusion
should = this is the best explanation or conclusion (but there are others)
may/might/could = this is one explanation or conclusion (among many)
may not / might not = this is one explanation or conclusion
shouldn’t = this is not a good explanation
must not = this is not a reasonable explanation (I would be surprised if it were true)
couldn’t/can’t = this is impossible
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Homework: p. 262 exercise 5 (1-5 only)