English Language Learner (ELL) Supplemental Practice Exam 2026 – The Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Your Exam!

Modal verbs show how likely something is or what someone can do, and this item tests the difference between ability and possibility. Could is used to talk about ability in the past, as in “I could swim when I was younger,” and it also serves for polite requests like “Could you help me?” May and might express possibility, as in “It may rain today” or “She might come to the party.” May is a bit more likely, while might indicates a lower certainty or a more hypothetical possibility. The statement that combines both ideas—could for past ability and polite requests, and may/might for possibility—best captures how these modals work. The other options mix things that don’t fit: expressing present obligation would use must or have to; certainty isn’t what might conveys; and focusing on may expressing possibility alone misses the ability usage of could.