Modal Verbs Certainty Scale

Year 5 EnglishModal Verbs3 pages

About this worksheet

Year 5 modal verbs on a certainty scale, over three pages. Pupils place might, could, may, should, will and must on a line from Possible to Certain, with a hint that three of the words mean nearly the same. They then put five sentences about rain, from It might rain to It must rain, in order from least to most certain in a table. A small weather picture sits beside the sentences. Page 3 is the key, with teacher notes on which words can swap places. It follows the England National Curriculum for Year 5 grammar.

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Curriculum objectives covered

Writing - vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

โ€œIndicating degrees of possibility using adverbs [for example, perhaps, surely] or modal verbs [for example, might, should, will, must]โ€

Task 1 asks pupils to rank six modal verbs by certainty. Task 2 asks them to rank five sentences that differ only in the modal verb.

What's inside this worksheet

The Certainty Scale

A word bank of six modal verbs and an arrow marked Possible at one end and Certain at the other, with six boxes under it. Pupils write one word in each box. A hint box says three of the words are very close in meaning.

Ordering Weather Sentences

Five sentences about rain, each with a different modal, next to a picture of a rain cloud and an umbrella. Pupils copy them into a table numbered 1 (least certain) to 5 (most certain).

Answers

The scale order, the sentence order and teacher notes on which of might, could and may can change places, and when will and must can swap.

How teachers use it

Human scale

Give six pupils a word card each and ask the class to line them up from Possible to Certain. Let them argue about where may belongs.

Rewrite the weather

After the table, ask pupils to rewrite the five rain sentences for sports day and compare the order with a partner.

Plenary on must and will

The key says will states a definite future fact and must shows a deduction from evidence. Use the bracket in the must sentence to talk about why both feel very certain.

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