Unit 10
Lesson 2
SB page 73
GRAMMAR
Modal verbs of possibility in the past
● We can use modal verbs with the perfect infinitive (have + the past participle) to talk about possibility in the past.
● We use could have + the past participle or might have + the past participle for a specific possibility in the past (when we are not sure if something happened or not).
-A car might have broken down on the road.
-She could have got lost on her way to our house.
● We use must have + the past participle for a deduction about the past when we believe that something is true and quite often when we have evidence.
-He must have forgotten about our appointment today.
-I’ve lost my bag. I must have left it on the train.
● We use can’t have + past participle or couldn’t have + past participle to talk about something we are certain about. We also use these to express disbelief or surprise.
-She couldn’t have finished the project yesterday.
-There was so much left to do! It couldn’t have been Ahmad you saw yesterday.
-He’s in Spain this week. He can’t have robbed the bank. He’s such a nice person.
● We use would have + past participle or wouldn’t have + past participle to talk about a definite outcome in the past, if the situation had been different. In this case, the if is not spoken.
-I would have called you last night (if I had known you were upset).
-I would have gone with you to the library, but you didn’t ask!