Past Modals exercises — Set 5: Advanced Past Modals of Deduction: Continuous & Passive Perfect Modals Exercises (Worksheet)
Worksheet • 20 questions • 15 min
When I arrived at midnight, Emma's desk lamp was still warm. She just before I got there — the screen was off but the chair was still pushed back.
The neighbours' music was extremely loud at 2 a.m. They a party, but I didn't go over to check.
The suspect claims he was at the gym from 6 to 8 p.m. However, his car was captured on CCTV downtown at 7:15. He at the gym during that entire period.
I called her office five times between 2 and 4 p.m. and she never picked up. She in a meeting the whole afternoon.
The deadline was yesterday, but Marcus spent the whole week watching videos online. He on the project instead of wasting time.
The report contained serious factual errors. It more carefully before it was published.
The bridge collapsed during the storm. Engineers believe the structural damage years earlier when the foundations were laid.
The painting is clearly from the 17th century. The pigments confirm it before 1650.
Several students complained that the exam questions had already appeared in a practice test. The questions from the same source without proper modification.
The lab results show traces of two different substances in the sample. One added deliberately, but the other there through natural contamination.
The witness says she saw the defendant at the scene, but the CCTV footage is unclear. He there, but he equally been somewhere else entirely.
The server logs show no login attempts between midnight and 6 a.m. The hacker the system during those hours — the breach occurred earlier in the evening.
In a formal report: 'The discrepancies in the financial statements suggest that certain transactions without proper authorisation from senior management.'
The editorial states: 'Given the available evidence at the time, the authorities the outbreak far more effectively than they did.'
The academic paper concludes: 'The decline in biodiversity exacerbated by unregulated industrial activity in the preceding decades, though further research is needed.'
I'm not sure whether he knew about the cancellation. He informed by the office, or he heard from a colleague — either is equally possible.
By the time the firefighters arrived, the building had been ablaze for over an hour. Several residents for help the entire time before rescue teams reached them.
If the government had invested in renewable energy twenty years ago, the country far less pollution today.
She hired two extra assistants for the event, but only five guests turned up. She so many extra staff — it was a complete waste of money.
The manuscript shows corrections in three different types of ink. Multiple editors the text at various stages before the final version was produced.
Past Modals exercises online (Worksheet)
Master advanced past modal verbs at C1 level — also known as perfect modals or modals in the past. Practise the difference between simple and continuous modal perfect structures (must have done vs must have been doing), passive perfect modal forms (should have been submitted, could have been prevented), and complex deduction chains requiring you to grade past probability across must have, may have, might have, and can't have. Includes would have, should have, could have, and needn't have in academic writing, formal reports, and real-world reasoning scenarios.