Advanced Modality and Evidential Meaning Exercise

Answers

1. Given the security footage and the time stamp, he must have been at the office when the email was sent.
2. If the lab results are accurate, the drug will reduce the symptoms within forty-eight hours.
3. She couldn’t have known the meeting was cancelled, because she showed up with printed agendas for everyone.
4. From his tone alone, you might assume he was joking, but the follow-up email made it clear he wasn’t.
5. I was going to call you sooner, but the client kept me on the line for hours.
6. He must be serious, because no one would risk their career over a joke like that.
7. The lights are off, so they may be asleep already, or they might simply be out.
8. If he really did say that, he can’t mean it, because it contradicts everything he argued last week.
9. I was supposed to have left early, but the chair kept adding last-minute agenda items.
10. He can’t have missed the train, because he texted me from his seat on board at 9:02.
11. Judging by the accent and the idioms, she must be / might be from Dublin.
12. The report must have been written by someone with legal training, because the terminology is consistently precise.