modal verbs degrees of certainty exercises

→ perhaps, maybe 'I am making a guess.' 'There are other possibilities.'

50% degree of certainty → He might be sick.

Might - may, might, could express a weak degree of certainty.

95% degree of certainty → He must be sick.

Must - expresses a strong degree of certainty about a present situation, but the degree of certainty is still less than 100%.

100% degree of certainty → He is sick / He will be sick.

Will expresses a high degree of certainty. Traditional / ESL and Linguistic Descriptions AZAR / BIBER Grammar Notes (Advanced) Grammar Descriptions See Modal Review – Possibility – weak to strong (epistemic modal use) 2004-polar-bears-dolphins-seals-climate-change/?

'4 Ways Polar Bears Are Dealing with Climate Change.' By Rachel A.

(low certainty) / You might be right (lower certainty) The past modal form expresses 'remoteness'. Speculation (N) – a guess about the possible causes or effects of something, without knowing all the facts or details Inference (N) – an opinion that is formed on details or knowledge that you have Infer (V) – to form an opinion that something is probably true because of information that you have ( Wikipedia–fact)įactual (Adj) – something based on fact, something known to be trueįactuality (N) – the degree to which one can accept something as fact, true based on facts also called epistemic (Huddleston 178)

The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to experience. (infer from facts)Ĭlue (N) – information that helps you understand the reasons why something happensįact (N) – A fact is a statement that is consistent with reality or can be proven with evidence. It is doubtful that polar bears are starving. I conclude that polar bears are starving. It is probable that polar bears are starving. It is likely that polar bears are starving.

I am certain that polar bears are starving. The modal must expresses that a person infers a situation to be factual by putting together facts (clues) and forming a conclusion from them. The person may believe the situation to be factual from shared knowledge or by first-hand observation. The modal will expresses how sure a person is that a situation is factual, true or not true.

Modal verbs degrees of certainty exercises