must have done = may have done?

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Viceidol

#483530 Sat, 01 Mar 08 08:12 AM

＊ Sam was sure that his wallet must have been found by one of the villagers.

May I ask if I can replace the "must have been" with "may have been" or "might have been"? Like the ones below:

＊ Sam was sure that his wallet may have been found by one of the villagers.

＊ Sam was sure that his wallet might have been found by one of the villagers.

Thank you for taking your precious time answering my question.

Viceidol

Joined on Wed, Jul 11 2007

Taiwan

Full Member (495)

Cool Breeze

#483541 Sat, 01 Mar 08 08:52 AM

Hi Viceidol

There is nothing ungrammatical in using may or might instead of must but as you have was sure at the beginning of the sentence, must is a far better choice. If you think of the meanings of may, might and must in your native language, I think you'll realise that the same is true even then.

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,512)

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.- Mark Twain

Kooyeen

#483635 Sat, 01 Mar 08 01:40 PM

Hi,
are you guys sure "must" is ok used that way? Does that sound good?
I'm asking this because I think "must" usually becomes "had to" in the past. I don't like sentences like "When I was in high school one of my teachers told me I must write an essay about weapons". I say "had to".
The verb "must have been" is ok when you are using it from a present point of view ("Did you see that guy on TV? She must have been out of his mind"), but in Viceidol's example it's used from a past point of view.
Smile

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,698)

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Marius Hancu

#483642 Sat, 01 Mar 08 01:56 PM

must have been: very probably it was (look in Swan)

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,522)

Cool Breeze

#483660 Sat, 01 Mar 08 02:44 PM

Kooyeen
Hi,
are you guys sure "must" is ok used that way? Does that sound good?
I'm asking this because I think "must" usually becomes "had to" in the past. I don't like sentences like "When I was in high school one of my teachers told me I must write an essay about weapons". I say "had to".

Hi Kooyeen

There are people - and I am one of them Smile - who consider it correct to use must + present infinitive in a "that" clause when must indicates a conclusion, not obligation:

I knew [that] he must be tired after having walked 20 kilometres.

Cheers