Hello!

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Dear Asungilsanz,

Is it possible to say �I phoned her ten minutes ago but I got her voicemail. She must have her phone switched off�. Or �Her phone must be switched off� is the only correct way to express that?

I always feel uncomfortable when a student in my class asks: �What is the correct way to say XYZ?�. The question makes it appear that the student believes that there is only ONE WAY to express a thought. Consequently, there can be only ONE answer. There is no room for: �It depends on � ��, or, �In my opinion � ��, or, �What I usually say is � ��

When I am asked a question in this form, I sometimes reply: �What is the correct way to kiss a baby?� The answer is, of course, �There are dozens of ways of kissing a baby!�

Let me make it clear that if the question relates to a generally accepted fixed grammatical/pronunciation/punctuation/etc. rule, then often, there IS only ONE answer. But, in my opinion, not in this case.

Here are some of my suggestions: �I phoned her ten minutes ago but I got her voicemail.

1. She must have her phone switched off�. (Passive voice: Present, �This is the situation�.)

2. She must have switched off her phone�. (Active voice: Past, �That is what she has done�.)

3. Her phone must be switched off. (Passive voice: Present, �This is the situation�.)

4. She may have her phone switched off�. (Passive voice: Present, �This is a possible situation�.)

5. She may have switched off her phone�. (Active voice: Past, �That is what she has done � it�s possible�.)

6. Her phone may be switched off. (Passive voice: Present, �This is a possible situation�.)

7. She might have her phone switched off�. (Passive voice: Present, �This is a less probable situation�.)

8. She might have switched off her phone�. (Active voice: Past, �That is what she has done � but it�s less probable�.)

9. Her phone might be switched off. (Passive voice: Present, �This is a less probable situation�.)

10. She could have switched off her phone�. (Active voice: Past, �That could be what she has done!�.)

11. Her phone could be switched off. (Passive voice: Present, �That could be what has happened�.)

There are probably several other possibilities. If this were a genuine situation, I would say: �She has probably switched off her phone�.

I hope that I haven�t confused matters for you by offering my opinion.

All the Best.

Les Douglas

Thank you�Les for your thorough and detailed answer. Of course there are often many different ways of expressing thoughts and that �s what I always tell my students to do, �if you can �t find the�way to say something, you should change the words and try to say it in a different way�. But this time it was me who was stuck. I had been marking exams for�nearly 4�hours, the expected answer in the exam was: �Her phone must be switched off� �and I suddenly felt confused with the other answer. I knew it was grammatically correct but I just couldn �t decide�whether it was 100% correct,�since I �m not a native speaker. Or maybe I was exhausted...!

Thanks�again for taking time to answer my question and thanks on behalf of all the members here that you help every day!