Learning English

Dan 
Hi guys! Dan for BBC Learning English here with this week's Learner Question. Find out what it is after this.

OK! This week's learner question comes from Daniela in Italy, who says, I am very uncertain how to use the form be likely to. Which degree of probability does it express?

In English there are many verbs and phrases to express possibility or probability. Examples are may, might, and could. When we use be likely to we talk about the possibility of something happening, and we often refer to possible future events. For example, the American is likely to win the race tomorrow.

When we use the phrase be likely to, we feel confident that something will happen, but we are not one hundred percent certain. We think something is possible, but we cannot be completely sure.

The opposite of likely is unlikely, and I think the phrase be unlikely to is probably used more often, perhaps because people are rather pessimistic about the future these days. Consider the example, England are unlikely to win the World Cup any time soon. It’s sad but it’s true.

Finally, the phrase be likely to or be unlikely to can also be used in the past. You just need to change the verb to be. For example, Sarah was unlikely to have known that her boyfriend was a criminal when she first met him. Poor Sarah.

I hope that answers your question Daniela. Thank you very much for writing to us. If anybody else out there has a question for Learners’ Questions, you can email us on: learning.english@bbc.co.uk. Please remember to put Learners’ Questions in the subject box and your name and the country that you’re writing from. We can’t answer all the questions, guys, because we just get too many, but we do read every single one of them.  And, for more information, go to our website: bbclearningenglish.com. I think that’s about it for this week’s Learners’ Questions. I’ll see you next time. Bye.