Modal Verbs of Probability in the Past

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 407.

PART II

Warm-up (2)

For the past, we use might/ must/can't have +past participle (perfect infinitive). This is the same for I/you/we/they. These are some of these sentences. Turn them into the past and translate into Russian. Do all of them express probability?

1. The number of detectable civilizations in our galaxy right now must be 10 000.

2. Well, the first sentence must always be best, just to make people read the rest.

3. If you and I speak different languages, and we're in the same room, I can point to a table, and I can say ‘table'.

4. Constructing such an instrument might require international collaboration and funding.

5. Some scientists may be too conservative.

6. A lot of new equipment can't be provided now.

7. Some SETI researchers assumed that the language of science could provide common ground for communication.

8. Errors can take place right at the get-go.

9. The astronomers who made the discovery must send an International Astronomical Union telegram-now delivered as an e-mail- to observatories around the world.

10. Some SETI proponents suggest we should do more than passively wait for a signal.

11. There is no reason why an extraterrestrial civilization couldn't spot Earth.

12. Aliens who have a mere 1,000-year head start on us could be listening to our conversation.

13. The astronomers who made the discovery must send an International Astronomical Union telegram-now delivered as an e-mail- to observatories around the world.

14. Can we even translate the message now?

Speaking (2)

Let's look at mysteries. There are so many things that we can't explain. Do you know Stonehenge? It's a huge and very old circle in the south of England. Some of its stones came from 300 kilometers away and that's one of the mysteries about Stonehenge. How were those huge stones brought there? And what about the dinosaurs? They lived on Earth for 150 million years and then disappeared quite suddenly. Why? What could have happened?