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It’s 10 o’clock so she’ll be at work by now.
The bus will be here in the next five minutes, so don’t worry!
Here are a few more examples of modals of possibility and probability:
I can’t find my keys. They must be here somewhere – I had them this morning!
This may be the last time I come to this bar – I’m leaving town tomorrow.
Elvis Presley can’t be alive. Someone would have seen him by now.
She might come this evening, but she said she had some work to finish first.
Alice is quite conservative. She may not like that pink wallpaper!
Modal verbs in the past, future and passive
Modals in the past (Perfect Modals) – could, should, might, may, must, can, would
We can use modal verbs to talk about the past and what has happened or what we think happened. The
form we use to talk about modal verbs in the past is:
MODAL VERB + have + 3
rd
 FORM OF VERB (past participle)
For modals of obligation and prohibition, we have the following:
Must (present) ? had to (past)
Don’t have to (present) ? didn’t have to (past)
Can’t (present) ? couldn’t (past)
Let’s look at some examples of past forms of modals with the other modalities:
We should have taken the bus, but we decided to walk.
You could have listened to me, but you decided not to!
You might have caught a taxi as I suggested, but instead you decided to walk.
Diana must have forgotten about our lunch date because she is not here.
Julia may have been in an accident because I heard about it on the radio.
You can’t have been at work today because your car was in the garage all day!
How did she fail that exam? She can't have studied very much.
Leila was hungry, but she didn't eat very much. She mustn't have liked the food.
He might not have received the message because he hasn’t replied yet.
I wouldn't have called if I had known you were asleep.
I shouldn’t have shouted at you yesterday. I’m sorry. I was very upset!