Complete the 12 sentences below. Choose the best answer for each one. Some sentences have two correct answers. Choose both.
Given the security footage and the time stamp, he ............... at the office when the email was sent.
Wrong!
Use a past modal of deduction that fits strong evidence about where he was at that time.
If the lab results are accurate, the drug ............... the symptoms within forty-eight hours.
Wrong!
This is a confident prediction based on a condition, so use a strong future-oriented modal.
She ............... the meeting was cancelled, because she showed up with printed agendas for everyone.
Wrong!
The context shows she did not know, so choose the modal that expresses lack of knowledge in the past.
From his tone alone, you ............... he was joking, but the follow-up email made it clear he wasn't.
Wrong!
The first clause needs a tentative inference from limited evidence, not certainty.
I ............... to call you sooner, but the client kept me on the line for hours.
Wrong!
This is an unfulfilled intention in the past, so use the form that expresses intended but unrealised action.
He ............... be serious, because no one would risk their career over a joke like that.
Wrong!
Choose the modal that expresses a strong logical conclusion in the present.
The lights are off and the curtains are drawn, so they ............... asleep already.
Wrong!
This calls for a reasonable inference from visible clues, not a statement of fact.
If he really did say that, he ............... it, because it contradicts everything he argued last week.
Wrong!
This is a strong negative deduction about what is likely true.
I ............... to have left early, but the chair kept adding last-minute agenda items.
Wrong!
This is a past obligation that was not fulfilled, so use the appropriate form.
He ............... have missed the train, because he texted me from the platform at 9.02.
Wrong!
The evidence rules out that possibility, so use the modal that expresses impossibility in the past.
Judging by the accent and the idioms, she ............... from Dublin.
Select 2 answers.
Wrong!
This is an inference from linguistic evidence, so use a modal of deduction or a cautious inference.
The report ............... have been written by someone with legal training, because the terminology is consistently precise.
Wrong!
This is a strong deduction about the author based on internal evidence.
Done.
Score: 0/12
Answers
- Given the security footage and the time stamp, he can't have been at the office when the email was sent.
- If the lab results are accurate, the drug will the symptoms within forty-eight hours.
- She couldn't have known the meeting was cancelled, because she showed up with printed agendas for everyone.
- From his tone alone, you might assume he was joking, but the follow-up email made it clear he wasn't.
- I was going to call you sooner, but the client kept me on the line for hours.
- He must be serious, because no one would risk their career over a joke like that.
- The lights are off and the curtains are drawn, so they may be asleep already.
- If he really did say that, he can't mean it, because it contradicts everything he argued last week.
- I was supposed to have left early, but the chair kept adding last-minute agenda items.
- He can't have missed the train, because he texted me from the platform at 9.02.
- Judging by the accent and the idioms, she must be from Dublin.
Judging by the accent and the idioms, she might be from Dublin. - The report must have been written by someone with legal training, because the terminology is consistently precise.
