Page 38 - Grasp English B1+ (Student Book)

3 Quick-Tempered

Grammar 1 Modal verbs 1

A. Read this extract from a story about a police detective and answer the questions.

1. When the detective sees the broken window, what is he sure is true?
2. Why does the detective go into the house when he is not certain about who is inside?
3. What is the detective doing when he shouts that something is impossible?

“This must be the scene of the crime. See over there,” the detective pointed at the broken window.
He turned to his assistant. “ Where’s the rest of the team?”
“They might be stuck in traffic, Sir. The roads are very busy today.”
“Well, we called them an hour ago so they can’t be long now.” The detective turned back to look
at the house. “I’m going in. This could be an emergency.”

“Sir, you must be joking. We don’t know who or what may be inside.” The assistant reached out a
hand to stop his boss, but then pulled back. “There could be a whole gang of criminals in there.”
“And there may be an innocent person who needs our help. I’m going in!” The detective set off at
a run towards the front door of the house.
“Sir! Sir! Stop! Radio message…the team are asking where we are. We must have got the wrong
address.”
As the detective crashed through the glass panel of the front door, the assistant heard him shout,
“What! We can’t have got it wrong!”

B. Discuss with a partner. Do you think the sentences are true for your teacher?

1. Our teacher must live near here because she always walks to school.
2. It can’t be easy for her, living a long way away from her family.
3. She doesn’t teach here every day, so she may work in another school, too.
4. There are so many students in our class. She must spend a long time marking.

C. Write must, might/may or can’t.
1. When we feel sure something is impossible, we use .
2. When we feel sure something is true, we use .

3. When we feel unsure about something, we use .

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