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Modal Verbs: Talking About The Past

This document discusses the use of modal verbs to talk about possibilities and assumptions in the past. It explains that must/might/could/may/can't plus the past participle are used to speculate about past actions with different levels of certainty or possibility. Will/won't plus the past participle indicate past certainty. Should plus the past participle can suggest an assumption about something that probably happened based on expectations. Could plus the infinitive refers to general possibilities in the past, while could plus the past participle is used for specific past possibilities. Examples are provided to illustrate the uses of each modal verb construction.

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Martin Soto
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19 views2 pages

Modal Verbs: Talking About The Past

This document discusses the use of modal verbs to talk about possibilities and assumptions in the past. It explains that must/might/could/may/can't plus the past participle are used to speculate about past actions with different levels of certainty or possibility. Will/won't plus the past participle indicate past certainty. Should plus the past participle can suggest an assumption about something that probably happened based on expectations. Could plus the infinitive refers to general possibilities in the past, while could plus the past participle is used for specific past possibilities. Examples are provided to illustrate the uses of each modal verb construction.

Uploaded by

Martin Soto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Modal Verbs

Talking about the past:


must / might / could / may / can't + have + past
participle

Must have + past participle

might / might not have + past participle

could / couldn't have + past participle

may / may not have + past participle

can't have + past participle

She must have forgotten about our date.

She might have worked late.

She could have taken the wrong bus.

She may have felt ill.

She can't have stayed at home.

For example:
You: Where was Julie last night?
David:

Will / won't + have + past participle


Teacher : Paula Hernndez
Subject : English
Level
: 10th

Page 1

Will and won't / will not + have + past participle are used for past certainty:

The parcel will have arrived before now.

Should + have + past participle


Should + have + past participle can be used to make an assumption about
something that has probably happened, if everything is as we expect:

The train should have left by now

Could
We can use could + infinitive to talk about a general possibility in the past:

Prices could be high in the sixteenth century.

This is not used to talk about specific possibilities in the past (instead we use could
+ have + past participle):

He could have been working late (not: 'could be'. As this is a specific
possibility, 'could be' is present tense)

Teacher : Paula Hernndez


Subject : English
Level
: 10th

Page 2

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