Past Modals

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Past Modals talk about the possibility of a condition in the past.

Affirmative Form:

must

might

could

may

have

past participle

Negative Form:

can’t

might not

couldn’t

may not

have

past participle

For example:

Bob didn’t come to class this morning. The teacher sees a student at lunch and asks why Bob missed class. The student, Jill, guesses:

Modal	Example sentence	Probability
Must	His train must have been late.	very probable
Might	He might have overslept.	a possibility
Could	He could have overslept.	a possibility
May	He may have overslept.	very probable
Can’t	He can’t have stayed at home.	not probable

Try Our Past Modals Activities

Detectives: Past Modals

Students play a detective game using modal verbs for past probability. Detectives use evidence for the existence of a past situation to deduce what happened.

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