0
Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Modals
Hello everyone,
I've recently been doing a few exercises on modal verbs and I've come across two examples that have puzzled me.
1) You should have driven more carefully. We might have been killed.
- This sentence was marked as incorrect and I don't understand why. The possible options are: could or may.
2. The police believed the murderer might have been mentally ill.
- Surprisingly this one is marked as correct. I've always thought that "believe" is an indicator of certainty which would suggest using "must", but unfortunately that is not the case here.
I'd be grateful if somebody could provide me with specific grammatical contexts which hide behind those sentences.
Thank you.
I've recently been doing a few exercises on modal verbs and I've come across two examples that have puzzled me.
1) You should have driven more carefully. We might have been killed.
- This sentence was marked as incorrect and I don't understand why. The possible options are: could or may.
2. The police believed the murderer might have been mentally ill.
- Surprisingly this one is marked as correct. I've always thought that "believe" is an indicator of certainty which would suggest using "must", but unfortunately that is not the case here.
I'd be grateful if somebody could provide me with specific grammatical contexts which hide behind those sentences.
Thank you.
Top answer
1) You should have driven more carefully. We might have been killed. - This sentence was marked as incorrect and I don't understand why.
- 1) You should have driven more carefully.
- We might have been killed.
- - This sentence was marked as incorrect and I don't understand why.
- - - It should not have been marked incorrect: might and could both fit nicely ( 'May' does not fit— 'may have' strongly suggests that the speaker does not know the outcome).
- 2.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
1 Answers
0
1) You should have driven more carefully. We might have been killed. - This sentence was marked as incorrect and I don't understand why. The possible options are: could or may.-- It should not have been marked incorrect: might and could both fit nicely ( 'May' does not fit— 'may have' strongly suggests that the speaker does not know the outcome).
2. The police believe
2. The police believe
0
Related Questions