Unit 6: Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
Modals of deduction and speculation - present and past
Select a unit
- 1 Pop-ups
- 2 Hidden talents
- 3 Can't buy me love
- 4 Travellers' tales
- 5 The colleague from hell
- 6 Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
- 7 Career changes
- 8 Art
- 9 Project management
- 10 The dog ate my homework!
- 11 The diary of a double agent
- 12 Fashion forward
- 13 Flat pack skyscrapers
- 14 Extreme sports
- 15 Food fads
- 16 Me, my selfie and I
- 17 Endangered animals
- 18 A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
- 19 I'm really sorry...
- 20 Telling stories
- 21 Fakes and phrasals
- 22 Looking to the future
- 23 Becoming familiar with things
- 24 From rags to riches
- 25 Against the odds
- 26 Our future on Mars?
- 27 Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
- 28 Dodgy dating
- 29 Annoying advice
- 30 I'll have been studying English for thirty weeks
Session 2
When you're not sure about something you might need to use a modal, a word like might, may, could, must or can’t. In this session we use them to help us solve a murder mystery, and we see them in a news story about life on Mars.
Activity 2
Modal murder?
Romeo and Juliet…
...are dead. What happened? Can you solve the riddle? You'll need to use lots of modals to solve it!
To do
Read the riddle and fill the gaps to answer the questions. We'll tell you the answer at the bottom of the page.
Read the text and complete the activity
The riddle
Romeo and Juliet are dead. They are on a bedroom floor. There is some broken glass beside them, but there is no blood on their bodies. There's some water on the floor, but not much. The room is empty except for a bed and a shelf. The room has no window, and only one door, which is locked. The room is in a house far away from others, but is close to a railway line.
How did they die?
Alas, poor Romeo...
6 Questions
Now it's time to practise your modals. What do we know from the information in the story? What can we deduce? And how did poor Romeo and Juliet die?
Help
Activity
Now it's time to practise your modals. What do we know from the information in the story? What can we deduce? And how did poor Romeo and Juliet die?
Hint
It's not possible that anyone else killed themQuestion 1 of 6
Help
Activity
Now it's time to practise your modals. What do we know from the information in the story? What can we deduce? And how did poor Romeo and Juliet die?
Hint
Look at the relationship between the two parts of the sentence. It's impossible that someone else killed them, so you strongly believe that there is another explanationQuestion 2 of 6
Help
Activity
Now it's time to practise your modals. What do we know from the information in the story? What can we deduce? And how did poor Romeo and Juliet die?
Hint
It's impossible that they cut themselves with glassQuestion 3 of 6
Help
Activity
Now it's time to practise your modals. What do we know from the information in the story? What can we deduce? And how did poor Romeo and Juliet die?
Hint
It's possible they swallowed the glass, isn't it?Question 4 of 6
Help
Activity
Now it's time to practise your modals. What do we know from the information in the story? What can we deduce? And how did poor Romeo and Juliet die?
Hint
It's possible to drown in a lot of waterQuestion 5 of 6
Help
Activity
Now it's time to practise your modals. What do we know from the information in the story? What can we deduce? And how did poor Romeo and Juliet die?
Hint
There's a possibility it's connected to their deathsQuestion 6 of 6
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
The answer
Don't read this if you're not ready! This is a well-known riddle and the answer usually given is... Romeo and Juliet are fish! They were in a glass bowl on the shelf, but this shook and fell when a train went past. It smashed on the floor and Romeo and Juliet died.
But maybe you could think of another way they died?
Next
Now it's time for 6 Minute Grammar. Finn and Catherine take a trip round the world of modal verbs.
Session Grammar
Modals - meaning and use
Might, may and could – possible in the present or past
- There might / may / could be life forms on Mars
- NASA says it may / might / could have been suitable for life in the past
Might not (mightn’t) and may not - negative possibility in the present or past
- Their information might not/may not be correct
- They mightn’t have got correct data
Couldn’t – completely impossible
- Other scientists say that there couldn’t be life on Mars
- The gas couldn’t be coming from living organisms
Must and can't – strong beliefs
- Oh, it can’t be true! (I believe strongly that it isn’t true)
- There must be another explanation (I believe there’s another explanation)
- They must have made a mistake! (I believe they have made a mistake)