Unit 8

Unit 8 Revision
1 Complete the sentences with these modals and the infinitive or be + -ing form of the verbs.
cant

could may not

might

must

cant be having

1 The children look so miserable. They

2 Look at those birds. Do you think they

3 That woman keeps going through the things in her bag. She
something.

4 Keiko is so young, but she plays the violin beautifully. She

every day.

5 Im convinced Collins story is absolutely true. It

6 Im not sure, but the turtles

close.

7 Mr Henson

(have) a good time.

(migrate) to warmer places?
(look) for
(practise) for hours
(be) a hoax.

(lay) their eggs in the sand now. Lets not get too
(be) available right now as hes very busy.

2 Choose the correct option (a or b) that best explains the meaning of the sentence.
1 It must have been Philip who phoned.
a Someone phoned Im sure it was Philip.
b Philip was supposed to phone, but he didnt.
2 The strange light we saw in the sky cant have been man-made.
a The light we saw was certainly not caused naturally.
b The light we saw was not caused by something created by humans.
3 That may not have been Amelia Earharts hair.
a Its possible it was somebody elses hair.
b Were sure it wasnt Amelia Earharts hair.
4 That tiny spider must have created this huge web.
a Its a possibility.
b Theres no other explanation for it.
5 Paul might have made the wrong assumption.
a Its possible that Paul was mistaken.
b Paul was certainly mistaken.
6 These drawings couldnt have been the work of local people.
a We can be quite sure that local people didnt create them.
b Perhaps local people created them, but we arent sure if they could.

3 The modals in bold are wrong. Write the correct modals. Sometimes, more than one answer is possible.
1 Although they arent sure, experts believe African killer bees must be taking over European honey bee hives.

could / might / may

2 She mustnt be sleeping. I spoke to her on the phone only minutes ago.

3 Youd better hurry! You must be late if you dont leave immediately.

4 Tomorrows picnic cant be cancelled. It all depends on the weather.

5 Those animals could be predators. Look how theyre chasing the zebra!

6 This phenomenon must be properly explained and will always remain a mystery.

Life Intermediate National Geographic Learning

Unit 8
Unit 8 Revision
4 Choose the correct option (a, b or c) to complete the sentences.

a cant be telling

c might be telling
be a storm later.

b
could c
must
just be a coincidence!

3 You havent got any mosquito bites, but Im covered in them. That

a
must

b
may c
cant
my sister in town today. Shes in France.

4 You

a might not have seen

c couldnt have seen

b
May c
Must

6 Jens not in. She

b mustnt have seen

those DNA samples perhaps prove our theory?

a
Could

b mustnt tell

2 Youd better stay indoors. The weather forecast says there

a
might not

the truth.

1 Her story seems unlikely, but she

a cant have taken

her dog for a walk in the park.

b may take

c may have taken

5 Look at the first sentence in each pair. Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning. Use
the words in bold.

They

cant have been

mistaken.
could

2 He was lucky he didnt get lost.

He

cant

1 Its not possible that they were mistaken.

These statues

cant
human.
must

5 Im sure someone was in the room earlier.

Someone

sacred.

4 Its impossible that the bone wasnt human.

The bone

may

3 Perhaps these statues were sacred.

in the room earlier.

might not

6 It isnt certain that humans lived here.

Humans

here.

Life Intermediate National Geographic Learning