9.5.- Speaking: Speculating and test part 2

What might passengers talk about among themselves?

For example, 'They might talk about the queue.'

Book Exercise 1 on page 77

Sample Sentence:

They must have been standing there for hours.

Modal Continuous Forms

1.- Present Modal Continuous

1.1.- The young girls must be thinking about their spring dance.

1.2.- The audience will be sneering at his corny jokes.

1.3.- The child may be imbibing his parents’ habits.

1.4.- He shall be demonstrating proper first aid for sprains.

1.5.- Her eyes can be stinging from the smoke.

 

Present modal  + be + -ing

 

Use present modal continuous when speculating or deducing if an action is being done or being planned to take an action in the future.

 

2.- Past Modal Continuous

 

2.1.- I could be living in Vietnam then. I can’t remember now.

2.2.- We should be keeping an eye on his progress at school.

2.3.- She would be regretting this decision.

2.4.- His flashy personality might be ruining his blind date.

 

Past simple modal + be + -ing

 

Use past modal continuous when you are not sure if the subject is doing an action.

 

3.- Modal Perfect Continuous

 

3.1.- I could have been relaxing at home if I didn’t have to work today.

3.2.- They should have been doing their homework at the time that I called.

3.3.- He would have been working at that company if he hadn’t been laid off.

3.4.- You might have been thinking I was much older.

 

Modal verb + have been + -ing

 

Use perfect modal continuous talk about an ongoing situation that began in the past but continuous in the present in relation to speculation or deductions.

Review of the Modal Verbs of Speculation and Deeduction

Conversation video about the modal verbs of speculation and deduction

Which phrases with the modal verbs of speculation and deduction did you find in the video?

Collaborative Online Exercise about modal continuous

https://continuingstudies.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/grammar/410-modals-of-possibility-and-probability-with-continuous-tenses1

Individual Online Exercise about Modal Continuous: Answer the following questions using continuous modals.

1.  Where might you be living in the year 2030?

2.  What could you be doing next Saturday afternoon?

3.  What must most of the people in China be doing right now?

4.  What should all of the students in this class be thinking about now?

5.  When might the sun be shining continuously every day in Seattle?

6.  What could you be doing right now if you weren’t taking a lesson?

7.  What might your relatives be doing in your home country right now?

8.  What could you be doing if you were in your native country?

9.  What might you be doing at this time a year from now?

10.  What may your best friend be doing right now?

12.  How long must you be taking ESL classes?

13.  When could you be watching television?

14.  How long must you have been taking lessons today?

 Collaborative exercise 3 on page 77

Speculation or Possibility ------- Deduction or Probability

Speaking Assessment Rubric

Speaking Exam Task on page 77