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This is a picture of three girls holding a flag of Australia.The girls are situated in the foreground. In the background there seems to be a Football field. The three girls are wearing sports clothes, so they are probably football players. In addition, the girl in the middle is holding an Americal football. This leads us to think that Australians are likely to play and enjoy American Football too.The girls look very happy and as if they had won a League or Championship, and maybe after the photo was taken they probably went out to celebrate their victory.

Imagen de DIAC Images en Flickr bajo licencia CC

This photograph shows a girl sitting on the deck of a house. The girl smiles while she holds a small dog, which is probably not very happy on her lap, because it looks as if it wanted to jump off her. In the background we can see another dog, which is not likely to have realised what is happening, as it looks distracted.

As you already know, there are many ways to describe a photograph. In this section we are going to learn to describe pictures by using probably and likely. Look at the examples above. What do you think the rule is for each of these particles?

A) Now look at the uses of probably :

He will probably come to the party.

He probably won’t be at the party.

Probably is an adverb, and it is used before the main verb in an affirmative sentence. However, it is used before the auxiliary verb in a negative sentence.

B) How can you use likely? Look at these two examples:

It is likely that the plane will be delayed due to the airline strike.

She is likely to be busy this morning.

Likely is an adjective, and it has a similar meaning to probable. There are two possible structures in which to use likely:

– it is likely that + clause

– be likely to + infinitive

The negative is formed by adding not before likely, or by using unlikely:

– it is unlikely that + clause / it is not likely that + clause

– be + not + likely to + infinitive