Use modal verbs to show exactly how sure you are about a situation happening right now.
You often cannot know something for certain, but the evidence around you lets you make an intelligent guess. In English you do this with modal verbs of deduction: must, can't, might, may and could + the base form. Each one shows a different level of certainty — from near-proof to a faint possibility — in a single word.
This is one of the most useful B2 speaking skills. A detective, a coach and a friend guessing why you look upset all do the same thing: they read the clues and reach a conclusion. Master these modals and you can speculate naturally instead of repeating "maybe" again and again.
Fix the shape of each modal in your mind first. They all take the base form of the verb — no to, no -s — and continuous deductions add be + -ing.
| Modal | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| must | must + base form | She must be tired. |
| can't | can't + base form | He can't be serious. |
| might / may / could | might / may / could + base form | They might be at home. |
| continuous | must / might / can't + be + V-ing | He must be joking. |
Think of deduction as a ladder. At the top sits near-certainty; in the middle, simple possibility; at the bottom, near-impossibility. The modal you choose tells the listener exactly where on the ladder you stand.
| How sure? | Modal | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ~95% sure it IS true | must | My phone must be in my bag. |
| possible (~50%) | might / may / could | My phone might be in my bag. |
| ~95% sure it is NOT true | can't (couldn't) | My phone can't be in my bag — I've emptied it. |
These two are a pair: must is your confident "yes", and can't is your confident "no". The trap almost every learner falls into is using mustn't for a negative deduction — but for a confident "it is not true", English uses can't, never mustn't.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| He mustn't be at home. | He can't be at home. | a confident negative deduction uses can't. |
| That mustn't be true. | That can't be true. | impossibility → can't, not mustn't. |
| She mustn't be the new teacher. | She can't be the new teacher. | the opposite of deduction "must" is "can't". |
When you deduce about an action happening at this very moment, use the modal + be + -ing. It is the deduction cousin of the present continuous.
For present possibility, might, may and could are almost interchangeable. The classic mistake is using can for a specific present guess in a statement — but can does not do this job.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| She can be at practice right now. | She may / might / could be at practice. | a present guess uses might/may/could, not can. |
| It can be the new kid. | It could be the new kid. | one specific possibility → could/might/may. |
These are the errors B2 students still make with deduction. Check your own speaking and writing against every row.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| He mustn't be German. | He can't be German. | a negative deduction uses can't. |
| She can be ill today. | She might be ill today. | present possibility uses might/may/could, not can. |
| That must to be expensive. | That must be expensive. | modals take the base form, no "to". |
| He must is joking. | He must be joking. | after a modal use "be", never "is". |
| They could to be right. | They could be right. | no "to" after could. |
Two friends stand outside the school music room, guessing who is inside. Read it twice and watch the certainty shift: a confident must, a confident can't, a cautious might, and a deduction in progress with must be + -ing.
Choose the correct answer. — 10 questions, each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Learn the words, then use them to deduce things out loud with must, can't, might and could.
Write 8 sentences in which you deduce things about a person, a place or a situation from clues. Use at least 8 of the words above.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
Read the text, then answer the questions.
Good readers prepare before they start. Before you read, think about these three questions (you do not need to write the answers):
Words to spot (from the Speaking section): clue · evidence · assume · suspect · obvious · conclude · reasonable · jump to conclusions
The new kid who sits by the window in my class is a mystery, yet every day he leaves tiny clues about his life. I have never actually spoken to him; nevertheless, I feel I know a great deal about him already.
Every morning unfolds in exactly the same way. He arrives a few minutes before the bell, slides into his seat by the window, and lines up three pens in a neat row before the teacher has even opened the register. Because he repeats this little ritual so precisely, he must be someone who likes order and calm; a genuinely careless person could never keep a desk that tidy. During break I sometimes notice him scrolling through his phone, half-smiling at whatever glows on the screen, and I cannot help wondering what he might be reading that pleases him so much. He never shares it, of course, so the rest of us are left to guess.
He must be a serious musician. He always carries a battered guitar case, and his fingers tap out rhythms on the desk during boring lessons. Moreover, he often hums melodies under his breath, so the evidence seems obvious. He can't be shy, because he happily answered three questions on his very first day and even cracked a joke.
There is more to my musical theory than the guitar case alone. Last Tuesday, while the rest of us were packing up in the usual noisy rush, he stayed behind and tapped out a surprisingly complicated rhythm on the edge of the desk. Moreover, the moment our music teacher mentioned a local band competition, his whole face lit up with interest. He may already play in a band of his own, although I honestly have no way of proving it. The melodies he hums so softly might even be tunes he has written himself, whereas most of us can barely remember the songs we heard yesterday. Whatever the truth is, music clearly runs through everything he does.
Some things are less certain. He might be a skater, since a pair of scuffed skate shoes usually pokes out of his bag; however, they could simply be his everyday trainers. I suspect he loves comics, although I have never seen him read one at school. His notebook is covered in sketches of superheroes, therefore drawing must be a real hobby of his.
Group projects reveal a great deal about people, too. When our history class was split into teams last week, he ended up with the loudest students in the room; nevertheless, he quietly organised the entire presentation and handed each of us a clear task. He can't be a lazy student, because lazy people never volunteer for the difficult research. On the sports field, however, he is far harder to read. He might be a fast runner, judging by those worn trainers, yet he never once joins the crowded lunchtime football games. He may simply prefer his own company, or he could be saving his energy for a club none of us knows about.
Social media only deepens the puzzle instead of solving it. Someone in my class swears she found his account, full of photographs of skateparks, late-night concerts and half-finished drawings; the profile, however, carries no real name and could easily belong to a complete stranger. If those pictures genuinely are his, he must be far more adventurous than his silent classroom face ever suggests. On the other hand, the whole account might be fake, and we could all be busily building a detailed story around entirely the wrong person. That is the danger of clues: they point somewhere, but they rarely point clearly.
The rest of the class has its own theories, naturally. During lunch, rumours spread that he must be a chess champion, or that he can't possibly be as quiet at home as he is here. One friend insists he is a gamer; another is convinced he must be older than the rest of us, since he seems so unbothered by the things that stress everyone else. The evidence for each theory is thin, yet the debate never really stops. It is obvious that a mysterious newcomer is far more entertaining than a familiar face, and we are all guilty of turning him into a puzzle to be solved.
I could be wrong about all of this, of course. It is easy to jump to conclusions from a handful of details, whereas a careful person waits for real proof. My best friend says I assume too much. 'You don't even know him,' she warns, 'so you can't be sure.'
She may have a point. Still, guessing about a classmate from small hints is a harmless game. He may be nothing like the person I imagine; the quiet guitarist might, in fact, be someone who simply hates crowds. The truth is probably ordinary — yet guessing is far more fun.
So each day I quietly add another clue to the imaginary file I keep on the boy by the window. Some of my ideas are almost certainly nonsense, whereas one or two might turn out to be surprisingly accurate — I will probably never know which. Perhaps tomorrow I will finally be brave enough to say hello and ask about the guitar, and every careful deduction will melt away in a single ordinary conversation. Until that day arrives, though, he remains my favourite mystery: a quiet classmate who, at least in my imagination, must be living the most interesting secret life in the whole school.
Choose the correct answer.
Are these sentences true or false, according to the text?
Complete each sentence with ONE word from the text. Choose the right modal or linking word of deduction (must / can't / might / therefore).
Write your answer in your own words. These questions are not marked automatically.
1. What evidence makes the narrator so sure the new kid is a musician?
2. Why does the narrator say he "could be wrong about all of this"?
3. Do you think it is fair to guess about a new classmate like this? Why or why not?
Find these connectors in the text — each one appears at least once: however, therefore, nevertheless, although, whereas, moreover, since, yet. (You will use these same connectors in the Writing section.) Note them down, then check.
Haruka asks Mark about Zen, an idea he first discovered at university.
You will hear a conversation: Haruka asks Mark to explain Zen — what it is, where it comes from, and why it is so hard to practise. You will listen TWICE. First listen: answer questions 1-5. Second listen: answer questions 6-10. (Kaydı İKİ kez dinleyeceksin: ilk dinlemede 1-5, ikinci dinlemede 6-10.)
Write and submit your paragraph; your teacher will review it.
At B1 you linked ideas with and, but, so, because. At B2 you sound noticeably more advanced when you use formal, precise connectors. Four of them are essential this unit — and two familiar ones, although and however, become sharper tools.
| Connector | Use it to... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| moreover | add a stronger, extra point | He carries a guitar case. Moreover, he hums tunes to himself. |
| therefore | show a logical result | The court is packed; therefore, a match must be on. |
| whereas | contrast two ideas directly | He guesses freely, whereas I wait for proof. |
| nevertheless | say "in spite of that" | I've never spoken to him. Nevertheless, I know his routine. |
| although | concede a point inside one sentence | Although I have no proof, he must be a gamer. |
| however | contrast between two sentences | He might be a skater. However, the shoes could be a friend's. |
See the difference — the same facts, written two ways:
| Basic linking ✗ | Confident B2 writing ✓ |
|---|---|
| I see a boy on the bus. He has a big case. He must be a musician. He is quiet. Maybe he is shy. | There is a boy I see on the bus every morning, and he always carries a bulky instrument case; therefore, he must be a musician. Although he never speaks, he could simply be shy. Moreover, the other students chat loudly, whereas he stays silent. |
A "deduction" paragraph has three parts. The skeleton stays the same — you change the content, not the structure:
| Part | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Opening | Introduce the person and your main confident deduction | There is a woman I often see, and she must be a musician. |
| 2. Body | Give the clues and your deductions. Use must and can't for confident conclusions, might / may / could for possibilities, and must be + -ing for actions now. Link with B2 connectors. | She carries a violin case; therefore, she can't be a tourist. She might be a student, although I'm not sure. |
| 3. Closing | Admit that you could be wrong — a careful conclusion | Of course, I could be completely wrong; I may be jumping to conclusions. |
Write about a person you often see but have never spoken to — a new classmate, someone on your bus to school, or a regular at the park or library. Deduce things about their life from the clues, and mix the deduction modals of this unit.
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will evaluate your writing.)
Mixed questions from the whole unit, then check what you can do.
14 questions: grammar + vocabulary + reading + listening. Each question is marked instantly.
Tick what you can do now. Honest answers help your teacher.
İşaretlemediğin madde varsa ilgili bölüme dönüp tekrar çalış — soldaki menüden her bölüme geri dönebilirsin.
Oturum kontrol ediliyor...