Hi.
This is a grammar lesson on modals of possibility. Let's start with a quick exercise. Imagine one of your good friends. Can you picture his or her face? What do you think your friend
could be doing right now? Do you think your friend
could be playing sports? Might be at a club dancing. Maybe at home reading, or
maybe your friend is driving around town. Let's look at these sentences again. My friend could be playing sports. My friend might be at a club dancing. My friend may be at home reading. Maybe my friend is driving around town. All of these sentences
express possibility. Meaning, there is some chance
that these sentences are true. The first three sentences
use modals of possibility. Could, might, and may, shown in red, plus the base form of
a main verb shown in blue. Could, might, and
may have the same meaning, but one is more formal than the other two,
and that's may. You will see may used more in writing
than in speech or conversation. I want to say one more thing about may. But may used With be. May be. And how it is different from maybe. Let's look at the sentence
that uses maybe. Maybe my friend is driving around town. Maybe, which is one word, means possibly. So this sentence, like all the other
sentences, expresses possibility. It means the same as saying,
my friend may be driving around town. Maybe, one word, is not a motile, but instead an adverb, and
it goes at the beginning of a sentence. Okay, let's get back to modals. Look at this image here. What could this image be? Use could, might, or
may to give an answer. Well, if you focus on the white, you'd
probably say, this image could be a vase. If you don't know what a vase is,
a vase holds flowers. If you focus your attention
on the black parts, you'd probably say this image may
be two faces looking at each other. Great. Let's try another image. What could this image be? Well, I think this image may
be the back of a young lady. But there's another possibility. Do you see it? A left eye here. The tip of a nose here. A mouth here. Yes, this image could be
the side of an old woman's face. Kind of creepy, don't you think? Okay. So far, all the sentences we
looked at were in the same tense. Which one? Well, the present tense. We've seen sentences like,
My friend could be playing sports. My friend might be at a club dancing. This image may be two faces
looking at each other. The same structure can be used
to express future possibility. For example, it may snow tomorrow. I might cook tonight
instead of eating out. My mother could call me this week. So let's practice. How would you answer these questions? Number one,
what might the weather be like tomorrow? Number two, what could you eat for
breakfast tomorrow morning? Number three,
where could you go on your next vacation? Well, here are my answers. It might rain tomorrow. I could have eggs and bacon. I might also have some coffee. I could go to Las Vegas. It's only five hours away by car. All right. So we've learned how to use could,
might, and may, to express present and future possibility. Let's learn one more modal, one that
shows a very high chance of possibility. Look at these pictures. Let's match the sentences
to each of the images. A.
The baby must be hungry. That goes here. B. He must be sick. Definitely goes here. C. The man must be late. This man looks like he's definitely
late for something important. And D.
He must be very angry. This bright red face shows anger for sure. Notice the words in red. It's must. This is another modal. When we use, when we are very certain
about what we think is possible. I'm going to call this
the modal of certainty. And like the other modals, must is used
with the base form of a main verb. Let's look at some more pictures. How would you use the pictures
to complete the sentences? Well, here are my answers. The penguin must be cold. The diamond ring must cost a lot. The lady bugs must love each other. The monkey must be scared. Do you have similar answers? Okay, let's review. We learned that the modals of
possibility are could, might, and may, and the modal of certainty or
high chance of possibility is must. I hope you feel confident enough
to try these modals yourselves. Thanks for watching.
