Question

Tom isn't in the library. He must have gone home. (I am sure it happened. - deduction) • Kelly isn't at home. She might/may/could have gone to the supermarket. (I am not sure. - speculation). • You can't have seen Berik at work this morning. He's on holiday. (I am sure it didn't happen. - deduction)

Answer 1

Ответ:

1. "Tom isn't in the library. He must have gone home." - This expresses a deduction or conclusion, indicating that you are quite certain Tom went home based on the fact that he isn't in the library.

2. "Kelly isn't at home. She might/may/could have gone to the supermarket." - This sentence involves speculation. You're not sure where Kelly is, but you're suggesting that going to the supermarket is a possibility.

3. "You can't have seen Berik at work this morning. He's on holiday." - Here, it's a deduction again. You are confident that the person couldn't have seen Berik at work because you know he's on holiday.

Answer 2

You've correctly identified the different uses of modal verbs to express deduction, speculation, and certainty in these sentences. Here's a breakdown of each sentence:

1. "Tom isn't in the library. He must have gone home." - In this sentence, you are expressing deduction. You are quite sure that Tom has gone home based on the fact that he isn't in the library.

2. "Kelly isn't at home. She might/may/could have gone to the supermarket." - In this sentence, you are expressing speculation. You are not certain of Kelly's whereabouts, so you use modal verbs like "might," "may," or "could" to indicate that there are various possibilities, and you're considering one of them.

3. "You can't have seen Berik at work this morning. He's on holiday." - In this sentence, you are expressing deduction again. You are confident that seeing Berik at work this morning did not happen because you know for sure that he's on holiday.

Your understanding and usage of these modal verbs to convey different degrees of certainty and speculation is accurate.