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I'm wondering which meaning this sentence has:

She must hate me.

  1. I need/want her to hate me
  2. I assume she hates me

or both are possible depending on the context?

1 Answer 1

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Both are possible, depending on context - in particular, tense.

Future tense. "She must hate me" = "She will come to hate me."

  1. It is imperative that she hates me, so I will work to make sure that this happens in the future.

Present tense: "She must hate me" = "It must be true that she hates me."

  1. Given what we know to be true, we can conclude that she does, now, hate me.

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