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modals of deduction (MODAL VERBS (may/might, will/would, can/could, should…
modals of deduction
MODAL VERBS
may/might
will/would
can/could
should
must
SPECULATION
/
PROBABILITY
would
(a desire to do something in the past which couldn't be fulfilled)
I
would have
done it if I'd had enough time.
should
(when our expectations weren't fulfilled or for saying what was the right thing to do)
Sorry, I
shouldn't have
interfered.
I'm late now!
Well, you
should have
thought of that before.
may/might/could
(a guess about a past action)
I cannot see him. He
might have
missed the train.
They
may have
moved to another department.
USE
to
speculate
about the past or present
to
criticize
or to
comment
on past actions (e.g. to express irritation)
CERTAINTY
certainty that something happened or didn't happen
must / mustn't
There's nobody here. They
must have
gone outside.
certainty that something didn't happen
can't
He
can't have
left. His shift hasn't ended yet!
couldn't
He
couldn't have
taken care of that.
STRUCTURE
modal + have + past participle
She
should
have told me the meeting is cancelled!
It
could
have yielded results earlier.
We
might
have won the contract.