So it goes

It's been a week. The snow is all gone, except for a few blackened islands of ice. I've been doing question formation, English history, modals of deduction, and second conditionals. And Grandpa passed on. Since modals of deduction for Upper-Intermediate was about the past, and these things tend to bleed together, all I can think is "He might have died peacefully" "He must have been tired" "He can't have been conscious". They don't ask, but sometimes I see the look on the faces of my students: do we need to learn this? Does anyone ever use this grammar? Yes, we do. Fortunately, some of it is only used rarely, but yes, the time will come. And when it does, it's nice to be able to say it properly. Must/might/can't + have + a past participle. I wasn't there, so yes, this is a time for modals of deduction. Rest in peace. It must have been quiet.