Modals for Speculating - Must be - EC 3 -11

Modal verbs for speculating

She must be a genius.

= I bet she is a genius.

She must work very hard.

= I bet she works pretty hard.

She must not go out much.

= I bet she doesn’t go out much.

Must - bet

She can’t be more than 12.

= It is not possible she is more than 12.

Cannot = imposiible

He may be her professor.

= Maybe he is her professor.

They might be feeling sad.

= Maybe they are feeling sad.

She must enjoy school.

She must have some friends who are her age.

She must live with her parents.

She must study all the time.

She must feel lonely sometimes.

Hey, look. That girl over there must be graduating.

From college? Are you kidding? She can’t be more than 12.

Well, she is wearing a cap and gown.

Huh, she must be a genius.

Sure, but she must study a lot, too.

Yeah, probably all the time.

I mean, she cannot have too many close friends here

She is so much younger than everyone.

Well, the guy she is talking to might be one of her friends.

He could be. Or he may be one of her professor.

True…Oh, look. Those must be her parents - the people with the cameras.

Yeah. They must be feeling pretty proud.


**

I have been studying Chinese for years, but I still cannot read it well.

You must be

That must be …

**

That must be annoying

That must be exciting

That must be boring

That must be hard

That must be scary

That must be fascinating

That must be interesting

That must be fun

You must be excited

You must be pleased

You must be tired

You must be bored

You must be motivated

You must be nervous

You must be proud

You must be happy

Example:

Hey, what this sax doing there?

I have a lesson after work.

So, how long have you been playing?

Oh, a couple of years.

You must be getting pretty good by now.

I wish! I haven’t made much progress lately.

Huh. How come?

Well, you see, I used to practice every morning.

But then I started this job, and somehow I cannot get myself to practice at night.

Well, you must be tired after work.

Yeah. But you know, I just joined a band.

That must be fun.

Yeah, it really is, and it keeps me motivated to practice. In fact, that is why I joined.

I see. Well, let me know if your band performs anywhere. I want to hear you play!

I have been taking dance lessons.

You must be …

The elevator’s not working, so I have to walk up to the tenth floor.

You must be …

I just won a scholarship to go to college.

You must be …

I often get up and study at 5:00 in the morning.

You must be …

I am going to skydiving next week.

You must be …

We are reading a book on ethics in my philosophy class.

It must be …

I am going out on a blind date tonight.

You must be …