Could( do ) and Could have ( done )

UNIT 26   Could (do) and could have (done)

A.   Study this example:

Dan: What do you want to do this evening?
Sue: We could go to the movies.

We use could (do) in a number of ways. Sometimes it is the past of can (do), but sometimes it has a present or future meaning. For example, we sometimes use could to talk about possible future actions, especially when we make suggestions:

"When you go to New York, you could stay with Linda.''

Can is also possible in these sentences. ("We can go to the movies.'')
Could is more unsure than can.                        


We also use could to talk about possible future happenings:

• There could be another rise in the price of gas soon. (= It is possible that there will be)

Sometimes could means would be able to:

• Why doesn't Tom apply for the job? He could get it.

• I don't know how she works 14 hours a day. I couldn't do it.

B.   The past of could (do) is could have (done). We use could have (done) to say that we had the ability or the opportunity to do something but did not do it:

• We didn't go out last night. We could have gone to the movies, but we decided to stay home. (we had the opportunity to go out, but we didn't.)

• Why did you stay at a hotel in New York? You could have stayed with Linda. (You had the opportunity to stay with her but you didn't.)

• Why didn't Tom apply for the job? He could have gotten it. (He had the ability to get it.)

We also use could have (done) to say something was a possibility but didn't happen:

• He was lucky when he fell off the ladder. He could have hurt himself.

C.   Here are some examples of couldn't have (done). "I couldn't have done something" = I wouldn't have been able to do it if I had wanted or tried to do it:

• When I went to New York last year, I decided not to stay with Linda. Later I found out that she was away while I was there, so I couldn't have stayed with her anyway.

• The hockey game was canceled last week. Tom couldn't have played anyway because he was sick.