0
Volcano1985 Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Modals of Certainty Degree of Certainty

MODALS OF CERTAINTY DEGREE OF CERTAINTY

She is a doctor. is + 100%
He may be an architect. may be 80%
He might be a civil engineer. might be 60%
He could be an art professor. could be 40%
She isn't a lawyer. is not - 100%

Hello, I saw this on british council site

I was taught could is more possiblier than may/might, but I see the opposite here.Was I taught wrong?
  

Top answer

No, i don't think you were taught modals in a wrong way. I guess it also depends on the author they base their theory to support that. I studied modals with Alexander and also Quirk.

— Rootlesstree

  • No, i don't think you were taught modals in a wrong way.
  • I guess it also depends on the author they base their theory to support that.
  • I studied modals with Alexander and also Quirk.
  • According to what i remember and i was taught, the scale is: might may could can should will/would must to be but hey, i could be wrong..
  • i'll try to get some websites for you later on..
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

6 Answers
0
No, i don't think you were taught modals in a wrong way. I guess it also depends on the author they base their theory to support that. I studied modals with Alexander and also Quirk. According to what i remember and i was taught, the scale is:
might
may
could
can
should
will/would
must
to be

but hey, i could be wrong.. i'll try to get some websites for you
0
0
oh i forgot to add, what i wrote is from the degree of uncertainty to certainty
0
0
Thank you.Is there anybody else to answer my question?
0
0
Volcano1985She is a doctor. is + 100%
He may be an architect. may be 80%
He might be a civil engineer. might be 60%
He could be an art professor. could be 40%
She isn't a lawyer. is not - 100%
Volcano1985Was I taught wrong?
In my opinion, you were taught wrong. Language is not mathematics. If I
0
0
Hi Volcano, you've made your point, but how do you know what is interesting for other people? Language and mathematics are related (and music). I thought it was an easily understandable way to explain the usage of these modals. It may or may not be correct though. Of course nobody computes the probabilities before using modals (or they do it so fast that you can't detect it), it does not
0
0
Making rude replies to posts that are nearly two years old is not very respectful either. The participants on this thread are certainly not waiting around for further comments at this time.

CJ
0

Related Questions