Exercise 1 Definitely, probably

Look at the results of an opinion pool asking voters which party they will support at the next election. Complete the sentences about the likely results using definitely, probably, or maybe + will/ won’t.

LABOUR |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 49%

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS ||||||||||||||||||||||| 21%

CONSERVATIVE |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 27%

GREEN PARTY || 1%

1. The Liberal Democrats will definitely do better than the Green Party.

2. The Labour party____________________________________ get the most votes.

3. _________the Labour Party _______________________ get an overall majority.*

4. The Conservatives _______________________________________come second.

5. The Liberal Democrats_____________________________beat the Conservatives.

6. The Green Party ______________________________ from the next government.

_

* i.e. More seats in Parliament than all the other parties put together.

Exercise 2

Likely to, certain to

Complete the sentences with be + certain to, likely to, or unlikely to.

1. They have very little experience of the entertainment industry, so they are unlikely to win the contract for a national television network.

2. She ________ get the job. She has the experience and the qualifications, and none of the other applicants were any good.

3. I will offer them a 10% discount, but they ________ ask for more because they are sometimes very tough negotiators.

4. Of course the stock market goes up and down, but you ________ lose all your money in such a safe investment.

5. I can give Harriet the message. She ________ be here at some stage tomorrow, because she usually comes in to the office on Thursdays.

6. The consortium ________ need some extra finance for the bridge; they have spent all of their money and the project is only half-finished.

7. We are relocating to a site that is quite close, so most of the staff ________ stay with the company.

8. I have booked a hotel room in London for the 18th, because the dinner ________ finish before 11 p. m., and then it will be too late to get a train back to Liverpool.

9. The new manager ________ make a number of changes in the department; the only question is exactly what those changes will be.

Exercise 3

I think, I doubt

A Arrange the expression in the box in the appropriate columns.

I’m quite sure + (won’t)… I’m confident that … I doubt if … I should think that … The chances are that … I’m quite sure that … I expect that … I shouldn’t think that … I doubt very much whether …

definitely	probably	probably not	definitely not
I’m confident that

B Match the sentences in column A with sentences in column B that have a similar meaning.

A	B
I’m quite sure they will sign the deal. The chances are that we’ll win the contract. I doubt very much if they will sign the deal. We will definitely win the contract. I should think they will sign the deal. I’m quite sure they won’t sign the deal. I doubt if we’ll win the contract. I Doubt very much whether we’ll win the contract.	They are unlikely to sign the deal. They definitely won’t sign the deal. We probably won’t win the contract. We’re very unlikely to win the contract. We’ll probably win the contract. We are certain to win the contract. They are likely to sign the deal. They are certain to sign the deal.