logounam logo-avi
logouapa

May have,
Might have,
Must have

Presentation / Objective

Have you experienced moments when you don’t know what it is happening with your colleagues, friends, teachers, family members or other people? Have you seen them after arriving late or after having an accident? So, in this unit, you will learn how to express all those deductions to express what may have happened, might have happened or must have happened to those people you know.



Girl at school

Reyes, R. (2017)

In the reading section, you will read about Sonya, and the things she found out when she got home from a weekend out with her friends. In the listening section, you will hear a dialogue between two friends making deductions about a robbery in their business. And for the writing and speaking, you will make deductions out of a set of pictures that you are going to be presented. This topic is crucial for you because you will know how to make deductions about your everyday life.


Objective

By the end of this topic, you will:

Be able to formulate deductions about the past in different degrees of assertiveness based on the modal verbs must have, may have, and might have to express yourself in your daily life.

Content

May have, might have, must have

The following information is essential so that you can become familiar with the grammar structure of the modals + have.

Use

We use the modals must have, may have and might have + past participle to express past probability.

• If you are sure that something occurred in the past, must have + past participle must be used.
• If you are not sure that something occurred in the past, may have + past participle or might have + past participle must be used.

Important: may have + past participle and might have + past participle can be used the same way.

In other words:

We use must have + past participle to express that we are 100% sure that something occurred in the past.

Examples

Example:

• They are not here. They must have left early.
(I’m 100% sure they left the place at any time in the past).

We use may have + past participle or might have + past participle to express that we are not 100% sure that something occurred in the past. They are only possibilities.

Examples:

• Paul isn’t here yet. He might have missed the bus.
(I’m not sure if he missed the bus, but it is a probability).
• The road may have been blocked.
(I’m not sure if the road was blocked, but it is a probability).

Important

Remember that you can use may have + past participle and might have + past participle in the same way.

• The doctor isn’t in. He may have gone out to practice a surgery.
or
• The doctor isn’t in. He might have gone out to practice a surgery.

Reading

Activity 1

What might have happened?

Have you been far from home for a couple of days, and when you come back you find things in a different place, or you find out that the members of your family have been doing things without your permission? Let’s read what happened to Sonya when she got back from a weekend with her friends.

japanese student

chyt453. (2015). Student. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/es/estudiante-de-la-universidad-1464467/



Complete the text by dragging the missing sentences into the correct space. You have just two opportunities.

Activity 2

What may have you done?

Man pointing out

Vega, M. (2015) You. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/es/tu-aviso-hombre-se%C3%B1or-dedo-771807/


Now that you have already read about Sonya’s situation in the previous exercise. What would you have done in her case? Make a list of 10 suppositions and check your use of may – might have + past participle or must have + past participle.

Use the following Checklist to check your performance:

Listening

Activity 3

What is this chaos?

Listen to Allan and Hugo describing the chaos at their home. It is then based in the order they are mentioned, drag and drop the phrases into the appropriate box.

Newspaper

Conner, D. (2015). Police Scotland. Retrieved from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/91779914@N00/18810089710.



Writing

Activity 4

Write your guesses

Have you ever wondered why accidents happen? Look at the pictures and write a short story (5 to 8 lines) saying what you think happened before each of the images were taken. Use the expressions with the modal verbs must have, might have, and may have.


Example:


Man reading news

Manolo Guijarro, M. (2012). Reading newspaper. Retrieved from: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license)



Continue with the following images.



Speaking

Activity 5

How did this happen?

Sometimes when we know there have been some accidents, we want to understand why they occurred. We make our guesses, but we don’t know the real cause of those accidents. Now, look at the images, and record yourself saying what you think happened before the accidents. Use at least two phrases with the modal verbs per image you have explored in this topic. Send your audio file.

Example:

Breaking news

NA. (2015). Motocicleta . Recuperado de https://pixabay.com/es/motocicleta-accidente-por-carretera-1041070/ consultado el 9 de enero de 2017




Continue with the following images.

Look at the rubrics to know the aspects that will be evaluated before recording yourself.

Self-assessment

Exercise 1

Order the sentences

Now it's your turn to practice your grammar on the following exercises. Drag the words to complete the sentences.


Self-assessment

Exercise 2

Suppositions

Remember that a modal + have + action in participle indicates something that may have happened, just like a supposition. In the following activity, choose the appropriate option to complete the sentences.
Example: Someone was knocking at the door. It must have been Mark. He promised to come. (must - be)


References

Basic references

• Thornbury, S. (2004). Natural Grammar. Oxford.
• Azar, S. & Hagen, S. (2009). Understanding and using English Grammar. Pearson Longman.

Complementary references

• Coordinación de Universidad Abierta y Educación a Distancia, UNAM. (2011). English media. Retrieved from: www.cuaed.unam.mx/english_media
• English Exercises.org. (2017). Can - May – Might. Retrieved from: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=6197