might
, may
, must
, and can
to talk about possibility and certainty in English. A speculation is when you use the evidence in a situation to make an opinion about it. To form your opinion, you ask yourself, “What has happened or not happened based on what I know or see?” You don’t know for sure that your opinion is true, but you can make an informed guess. For example, imagine your friend told you she would call at 6 p.m., but she did not. What could you speculate or deduce? She MIGHT have forgotten. She COULD have been too busy. Something urgent MAY have come up. In this advanced English grammar lesson, we will discuss all the grammar you need to make a speculation or deduction in English.
67 COMMENTS
Thank you for this good and short lesson Jade. It could be effective for me after listening to it another time.
88! Here is a cool quiz! Thx!
Thanks for this episode!
Thanks for this short and good lesson!
thanks
I really love this website!
I woke up feeling tired. I might be dehydrated.
Then you should drink much water.
Why is “could” false for no. 7? I thought “could” and “must” are both true…
Because they drank a lot last night, they must have been hangover. Cuz they drank a lot. you can’t drink too much and not get a hangover xD
The question is which one express certainty, and “could” expresses possibility, so it is wrong.
The 7 task is:
“Fill in the blank to express certainty”
Certainty:
-must,
Possibility:
-could,
-can,
-might,
-may,
Besides there is word “today” at the end.
Caould is past simple of “can”
Hi Dear Jade;
I have been away for ages since like three years ago, and I am so pleased to get back here again.
I have just encountered with an unexpected grammatical point in an essay received 7.5 in IELTS Academic, which I have not seen it anywhere yet.
The sentence is: “Regarding motivation, for instance, the museum cards, which are a moderately new trend, offering an entrance to national museums in a country and is valid for one year at a time.”
The strange part that comes to me distinguish is ” and is valid” which I guess that placed instead of ” which is”. I would gently appreciate in advance if you provide me with an assist on this.
Regards;
I got 88 and mistake at number one. I thought almost sure mean sure so i choose certainly unfortunaly that must be probably. Thank Jane
Thank you !!!
Nice.I got 6 correct out of 8
Thanks
thanks got 88
Nice lesson! I could have known more answers
I think it’s a bad score when i get 63.
Same here
Thanks a lot Jade!
Thanka
What a nice shorty lesson.
thanks Ms. Jade for this useful lesson.
please, i have a question i’m a little bit confused about something which is that i know that might is the past tense of may but although we used this word to talk about the present and the same for the past we used may to talk about the past could you please, explain this point?
thanks
Great. Thanks Jade!
My first trial, I didn’t get a perfect score, so I watched the video again. I can’t have forgotten this topic.
Hi Jade,
tks a lot for the lesson.
In questions 4 and 8 shouldn’t be “gotten” instead of “got”?
Best Regards!
Hi Renan, British gramar, pp of get: got, same as sp got. Best regards.
you’re right Hector.
Didn’t know that.
Tks a lot!
I understand English grammar less.
great Jade you are great
Thank you for this episode.
Thanks Jade :)
Good Morning Jade.
Thanks a lot for your class.
Have a wonderful day.
Thanks Jade, i learned something more
Thank you Jade, I learn a lot.
Om shanti..good lesson marvelous quiz..thanks
You said model verb have past perfect
I like this site. I get to practice what I watched. Please let me know if my grammar is correct. Thank you for your help. A happy New year to you Jade and to the rest.
Thanks Jade, it’s very generous of you
I am very grateful for this lesson it improves my understanding of modal verbs i use to confuse these verbs i hope this course corrected some of my mistakes. i appreciate your hard work for us God bless you if you believe in him.
You were direct and precise.
thank you. it was very useful.
Hello :) thank you for having done this lesson
I have a doubt concerning one sentence about “she would come”
“Someone is at the door. It _________ be Kate. She said she would come by sometime this week.”
Shouldn’t be..she would have come? (if not why)
Jade is the best teacher!
Hey Fagolo, are you really from Finland? Woow I have always been there, do you think it is kind of easy to reside there permanetly? Mexico is great but certainly, love that contry. Can you speak a bit about it?
Good morning Jade.
Thanks so much for the great lesson.
Jade, I like your accent, sometimes it seems difficult to understand but it’s nice. So I would like to request you whether it is good to say or not. Umm, I learned how to use must, may, might and can to show deduction in English but could you provide us other ways of using above modal verbs in different situation of our daily life. Good day!
Thanks, It’s a great lesson
thanks for your wondefull English grammar, it was really useful for me, I appreciate. thanks
This was informative and very helpful. Thank you for the time and consideration you put into the practice.
That’s really informative lesson . I recommend that.
8/8 Thank you, teacher. I like your lessons.
Thank you
British: got, American : gotten
Amazing explanation. Thanks!
I got seven out of eight
Thank you for share your knowledge with us!! Now modal verbs are more clear to me.
I matched all answers! I am badass girl!!
Thank you, Jade! “Deduction” reminded me the beautiful stories about Scherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Thank you for this lesson on modal verbs in certainty and in possibility sentences. I am grateful for getting full marks on Tests. However, I can’t make sentences perfectly in writing. Please help me up with which video should I watch?
thanks. 7/8
Might it be possible to clarify the difference between: everything but…, anything but…, all but…?
Is there a sort of academy that teaches broken English? people in the real life don’t speak like you guys in these videos. Just in formal TV or documentaries here in Britain.
Thank you, that was helpful!
Thank you Jade. I got 5 of 8.
Thanky you 5 of 8