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Speculating - Making Guesses About Something/somebody. The: Might/could

This document discusses language used for speculation. It identifies modal verbs and verbs like "might", "must", "can't", "seem", "look", and "look like" that are used to express varying degrees of possibility or certainty when making guesses about things that are not known for certain. Examples are provided to illustrate how each term is used in the context of speculation. The document concludes by noting that speculative language allows people to make guesses without firm evidence and that modal verbs do not take the third person -s ending and form negatives with "not".

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160 views

Speculating - Making Guesses About Something/somebody. The: Might/could

This document discusses language used for speculation. It identifies modal verbs and verbs like "might", "must", "can't", "seem", "look", and "look like" that are used to express varying degrees of possibility or certainty when making guesses about things that are not known for certain. Examples are provided to illustrate how each term is used in the context of speculation. The document concludes by noting that speculative language allows people to make guesses without firm evidence and that modal verbs do not take the third person -s ending and form negatives with "not".

Uploaded by

Renata
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Speculating – making guesses about something/somebody.

The
following modal verbs and verbs are used in the language of
speculation.
Might/could shows possibility, e.g. It might rain today. (We can‘t
say for sure).
Must shows certainty or that you believe something is certain,
e.g. They must be there. The door‘s open. (We are certain
because they wouldn‘t go out of the house and not close the
door.)
Can‘t is used to describe things you are sure are not true,
e.g. The cheese can‘t be that expensive! It‘s usually much
cheaper.
Seem is used to describe something that appears to be true,
e.g. She seems interesting. He seems to be working hard.
Look is used to describe appearance, e.g. You look excited. She
looks pretty in her new dress.
Look like is used to talk about similarities, e.g. You look like your
brother.
Look as if is used to make assumption (prielaida) about
someone‘s appearance or mood, e.g. She looks as if she‘s angry.
We use speculating language to make guesses about people and
things when we do not have firm evidence. So if someone seems
shy, he or she might not actually be shy.
*Modal verbs do not take the 3rd person –s, e.g. She might enjoy
it.
*Modal verbs form the negative with not, e.g. We may not have
time.

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