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Perfect Modals

This document contains examples of using perfect modal verbs like "should have" and "must have" to talk about past actions. It provides 20 examples of using "must have" to make deductions about something that happened in the past, and 20 examples of using "couldn't have" to rule someone out as having done something in the past since they were not present.

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Jorge Ruiz
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39 views

Perfect Modals

This document contains examples of using perfect modal verbs like "should have" and "must have" to talk about past actions. It provides 20 examples of using "must have" to make deductions about something that happened in the past, and 20 examples of using "couldn't have" to rule someone out as having done something in the past since they were not present.

Uploaded by

Jorge Ruiz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Perfect Modals

28 Auxiliary verbs: shouldn't be doing and should have done


PEG 142, 143
A: Look at that man shaving while he drives!
B: He shouldn't be shaving now. He should have shaved before he
left the house.

1. Look at that woman doing her nails in the bus queue!


2. Look at that man correcting exercises in the bus!
3. Look at that man polishing his shoes in the bus shelter!
4. Look at that boy tying his shoelaces as he goes into school!
5. Look at that woman putting on her earrings on the stairs!
6. Look at that girl sewing on a button in the library!
7. Look at that man eating his breakfast as he walks down the path!
8. Look at that girl putting on her make-up in the bus queue!
9. Look at that man brushing his coat in the lift!
10. Look at that man putting in his contract lenses on the escalator!
11. Look at that man filing his nails in the bar!
12. Look at that boy combing his hair in the classroom!
13. Look at that women cleaning her glasses while she drives!
14. Look at those children doing their homework in the bus!
15. Look at that man putting in his false teeth in the street!
30 Auxiliary verbs: must have done (deduction)
PEG 158

Martin and Simon have just come back to their house after a
weekend.
Martin notices various changes; Simon thinks these must be the
result
of actions by Peter, who shares the house with them.
(i) A: The door's open! (leave)
B: Peter must have left it open.
(ii) A: The library books have disappeared. (take back to the library)
B: Peter must have taken them back to the library. (Notice the word
order.)

1. My torch isn't here! (borrow)


2. The plates are all clean! (wash up)
3. What are all these books doing here? (leave)
4. The teapot is in pieces! (drop)
5. How shiny the furniture looks! (polish)
6. The steps are unusually clean! (sweep)
7. There are some sandwiches on the kitchen table! (make)
8. I've turned the key but the door won't open! (bolt)
9. Here's the receipted bill! (pay)
10. There's a man at the door with a crate of beer! (order)
11. There are no biscuits left! (eat)
12. And there's no whisky left! (drink)
13. There are two policemen at the door asking out break-in! (report)
14. The place is full of empty bottles! (have a party)
15. The car is in a terrible state! (drive into a wall)
16. The clock is going again! (wind)
17. There's blood all over the kitchen floor! (cut himself)
18. The bath's overflowing! (leave the tap on)
19. Where have the curtain gone to? (take down) (See (ii) above.)
20. There's a new poster on the wall! (put up) (See (ii) above.)
31 Auxiliary verbs: couldn't + perfect infinitive
(negative deduction)
PEG 159

Yesterday someone finished the wine/broke a wineglass/borrowed


Mary's radio etc. Mary thinks it was Tom who did these things, but
you know that Tom was out all day.
A: I wonder who broke the glass. I expect it was Tom.
B: Tom couldn't have broken it. He wasn't here yesterday.
I wonder who ... . I expect it was Tom.

1. spoke to her
2. paid the milkman
3. brought the flowers
4. fixed the television set
5. tuned my guitar
6. made all this mess
7. moved the piano
8. spilt the wine
9. opened the letters
10. borrowed my umbrella
11. answered the phone
12. finished the bottle of gin
13. drank all the beer
14. ate the cold meat
15. fused the lights
16. left the gas on
17. let the cats out
18. overheard us
19. planted the rose bushes
20. went off with the telephone directory

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