Modal verbs of probability - step 1

Test your modal verbs for probablility using this grammar exercise

Will and won't are used to predict a future action which is true or certain

• I'll 'phone you later.
• She'll move to Essex in early September.
• He won't be joining us.

Will and won't also express what we believe, guess or assume to be true about the present.

• You will insist on making sandwiches we don't need.
• Is that the 'phone? It'll be Dad warning us about the train strike.
• I'd leave the potatoes for another minute or two. They won't be cooked yet.
• I suppose Gerald will be catching the Brighton train any minute now.

Must expresses what we deduce or conclude to be the most logical or rational explanation in a situation, but we don't know all the facts.

• She must be working late at the office.
• It must be difficult, living in such a remote place.

The negative use of 'must' in this use is 'can't'.
Can't expresses what we deduce or conclude to be the most logical or rational explanation in a situation, but find hard to believe.

• She can't be working this late, surely?
• It can't be him, he's never gets here on time!

 

 

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