Say your three
Read out your three predictions. Your partner writes each one on the scale — certain, possible, ruled out — without you telling them which is which.
If they put one in the wrong place, the words did not do what you meant. That is the diagnosis for today.
Six situations. Match each to the modal that fits it exactly.
Four sentences, one moving word
Read these aloud. Watch where definitely and probably sit.
The port will definitely close.
The port definitely won’t close.
The rents will probably keep rising.
The rents probably won’t keep rising.
Four questions about those four sentences. The answer is visible on the page.
1. In the two positive sentences, where does the adverb sit?
2. In the two negative sentences, where does it sit?
3. The port won’t definitely close. Why is that wrong?
4. What is the practical rule?
The scale, and the questions
The three modals
| Modal | Means | Negative | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
will | Prediction you are treating as fact | won’t | Never |
might | Possible — around fifty per cent | might not | might not means "possibly not", not "must not" |
may | Possible; slightly more formal | may not | Also means "is allowed to" in other contexts |
could | Possible; often about what is imaginable | — | couldn’t means "was unable", not "possibly not" |
be going to | Prediction with evidence in front of you | is not going to | Look at those clouds — it is going to rain. |
The adverb rule, in one line. will definitely · will probably — after the modal. definitely won’t · probably won’t — before the negative.
And a warning: might not is nothing like mustn’t, however similar they look. He might not come means possibly he will not. He mustn’t come forbids him.
Two to three words per gap. The sentence tells you how sure the speaker is; you supply the modal and the adverb in the right order.
The contract is signed, so the work start in April. The second phase begin this decade — the money is not there. Nobody has decided about the third, so it happen and it . Everything points to a delay, so I think it open late.
Questions about the future: where the inversion stops
| Shape | Correct | The error |
|---|---|---|
| Direct question | Will it rain? | — |
| Direct wh-question | What will happen? | |
| Inside Do you think | Do you think it will rain? | |
| Wh- inside Do you think | What do you think will happen? | |
| Inside Do you know whether | Do you know whether they will build it? | |
| Subject question | Who will win? |
One question per sentence. When a question is buried inside a longer one, only the outer one gets turned round. The inner part keeps ordinary statement order: subject, then verb.
Do you think + it will rain → Do you think it will rain?
The second half is a statement. It never becomes will it rain in there.
Eight sentences. Four have the adverb in the wrong place; four have a question turned round twice.
1. The shop won’t definitely close.
2. It won’t probably rain tomorrow.
3. She definitely will not agree to that.
4. They probably will not finish on time.
5. Do you think will the line open?
6. What do you think will happen it?
7. Do you know whether will they come?
8. Why you think the rents will rise?
Asking and answering
Put the parts in order to make one correctly formed embedded question.
One to four words per gap. Some gaps are questions, some are answers.
— the port will close? — Yes. It close; the notice is up. — And what happen to the workers? — Some move to the new site. The rest find anything nearby, I am afraid. — Do you know the council has a plan? — If they , they have not published it.
Ten questions in four minutes
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 4 minutes each
Your partner has three predictions on paper. You have four minutes to interrogate them.
Ten questions, all correctly formed, alternating between two shapes.
- Five must start Do you think… or Do you know whether…
- Five must start with a question word: What do you think… · Why do you think… · When do you think…
- Your partner answers with a modal and an adverb in the right order, every time.
- Any double-inverted question — Do you think will it… — and you start that one again.
The restart rule matters. Do not let a wrong question stand and move on. Say it again, correctly, before you take the answer. The repair is the practice.
The two shapes
Four sentences from the interrogations. Fix each.
1. Do you think will they build the flats?
2. What you think will change first?
3. It won’t probably happen before 2030.
4. He might to come, but I doubt it.
Two rules, one line each
Three questions.
1. Which is right?
2. Which is right?
3. He might not come. What does that mean?
Before next lesson. Rewrite your three predictions so that each one has a modal and an adverb in it, and write one question you would ask somebody else about theirs.
Next lesson we give you the words to predict about — and the phrases for saying you are worried rather than certain.