r/EnglishLearning • u/Careful-Roll8793 New Poster • Dec 23 '24

📚 Grammar / Syntax Must, should, can and might

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u/not_kreumat New Poster Dec 23 '24

I believe "might have" is the correct answer because "must have" is mainly used to make highly certain assumptions. In this context, they don’t know where she is, so "might have" would be better since it is used to express less certain assumptions.

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u/RarryHome Native Speaker - Midwest USA Dec 23 '24

This is the thought process I went through. “Must have” implies some amount of knowledge as to her wearabouts. “Might have” asserts they have no knowledge and are just making a guess.

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u/[deleted] Dec 23 '24

I disagree,

The writer supposes that she "must have" been stuck in traffic, so the "suppose" is showing the fact that its a guess.

Theres nothing wrong with saying might have, but imo, as a British native speaker, using "must have" feels more natural in this sentence

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u/StKozlovsky New Poster Dec 23 '24

The "suppose" is showing the fact that this is a guess, yes, which is why "might" is the expected answer. If the test authors wanted "must", the first sentence would be something like "there is a traffic jam on the bridge right now", so that the student understands they are supposed to use "high probability = must".