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9Likes- 11-Jul-2009, 19:23 #1
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must (have) 1) She must have been there yesterday. (I´ve come to this conclusion)
2) She must be there now
3) She must be there tomorrow (next week)
Is sentence #3 right? Can I ever infer about the future?
- 11-Jul-2009, 19:30 #2
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Re: must (have) No. Sentence #3 is not okay. Say instead:
Originally Posted by beachboy 
She will be there tomorrow.
- 11-Jul-2009, 19:35 #3
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Threadstarter / Original Poster Re: must (have) What if I´m not completely sure if she will be there tomorrow?
- 11-Jul-2009, 20:02 #4
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Re: must (have) will, just like must, means a shrewd inference from facts; a probable (but not certain) conclusion drawn from premisses. Originally Posted by beachboy
should, might, and ought to express lower probability.
- 11-Jul-2009, 20:21 #5
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Re: must (have) Just like svartnik points this out in his post, sentence #3 can't refer to a future event. The sentence as it stands merely says that it is necessary for her to be there tomorrow, or it is her obligation to be there tomorrow. Originally Posted by beachboy
- 11-Jul-2009, 21:33 #6
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Re: must (have) She could be there tomorrow.
She might be there tomorrow.
She may be there tomorrow.
She can be there tomorrow.
Which sentence implies the strongest probability? The one with "could"?
- 11-Jul-2009, 21:42 #7
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Re: must (have) [more probable] Originally Posted by english-help.okis.ru
She can be there tomorrow. (this use actually denotes possibility)
She may be there tomorrow.
She might be there tomorrow.
She could be there tomorrow.
[less probable]
- 11-Jul-2009, 22:30 #8
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Threadstarter / Original Poster Re: must (have) As for should, as svartnik mentioned, where would it be on this list of probability? Higher than may?
- 11-Jul-2009, 22:34 #9
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Re: must (have) It'd be hard to say - should denotes expectation and obligation rather than probability. Originally Posted by beachboy
- 12-Jul-2009, 07:14 #10
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Teacher Re: must (have) This sounds rather artificial to me. The last three all mean the same thing. If you want to express a probability, you'd use adverbs, not a different modal. Originally Posted by engee30
Would you actually make these distinctions in real life, engee?
* "She could be there ... actually, no, I'll go so far as to say she may be there tomorrow".
Much, much more likely:
"She could be there ... actually, no, I'll go so far as to say she probably will be there tomorrow".
