QUIZ 2: Modals for speculation

Name: ________________________________________________________ ID Number: __________

1.- Listen to the conversation and write the verbs you hear.

SITUATION: Tom and his young son Billy hear a noise on the roof.

TOM: I wonder what that noise is.

BILLY: It ________________ a bird.




TOM: It ________________ a bird. It’s running across the rook. Birds ______________ across

roofs.

BILLY: Well, some birds do. It _______________ a big bird that’s running fast.

TOM: No, I think it ___________________ some kind of animal. It ________________ a mouse.

BILLY: It sounds much bigger than a mouse. It _________________ a dragon.

TOM: Son, it _____________________ a dragon. We don’t have any dragons around here. They

exist only in storybooks.

BILLY: It ___________________ a little dragon that you don’t know about.

TOM: Well, I suppose it _________________ some kind of lizard.

BILLY: ____________________ look.

TOM: That’s a good idea.

BILLY: Guess what, Dad. It __________________ a rat!

2.- Decide which past modal in the list best completes each sentence. One of the modals is

NOT appropriate for any of the sentences.

must have left couldn’t have left. should have left might have left

SITUATION: Jackie can’t find her sunglasses.

1. Laura thinks it’s possible that Jackie left them on the table at the restaurant. She says, “You
________________________________ them on the table at the restaurant, but I’m just
guessing.”

2. Sergio disagrees. He looked at everything on the table before they left and doesn’t

remember seeing her sunglasses there. He thinks it is possible that Jackie left them there,

so he says, “You ___________________________ them there. I’m sure they are somewhere

else. Did you check your purse?”

3. Maya disagrees with Sergio. She remembers seeing the sunglasses on the table, so she

says, “You ________________________ them there. That’s the only logical explanation I can

think of.”