English Modal Verb in the Past Could HaveCouldnt Have

okay thank you’s rolling hi everybody

welcome back to our weekly

live stream my name is alicia and in

this week’s live lesson we are going to

talk about

a modal verb in the past this week i’m

going to focus on how to use

could have and the negative form

couldn’t have

we’re going to practice using this to

make statements

and to make questions i’m also going to

talk about

some pronunciation points and also a

couple of common questions people

have with this grammar so i hope that

everyone can find something new

in today’s lesson so as you join please

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thanks everybody for joining us this

week as i said

this week we are going to talk about how

to use

a modal verb in the past i’m going to

cover

could have and couldn’t have this week

so everybody is here let’s look now

at today’s lesson flow so again if you

have not seen our live lessons recently

i am broadcasting from home

i’m using smaller white boards these

days let’s take a look at

our lesson flow if i can push the button

correctly

there we go okay let’s take a look at

our lesson flow first

i’m going to talk about could and could

not have to make

statements this is part one next i’m

going to talk about

how to make questions and kind of when

we use these

and last i’m going to do an f a q

faq means frequently asked questions

so i’m going to cover some common

questions people have about this grammar

okay so let’s get into the first part of

today’s lesson then please

i’m going to begin with this part once i

find my marker i lost my marker

okay let’s talk first then about how to

use this grammar

to make statement statements so

uh first let’s quickly review how

we make this grammar what do we do

when we use could in the past for this

for this lesson this is the basic way

we form the grammar could

plus have plus the past participle form

of a verb

so our subject will be over here

somewhere so i could have he

could have she could have and so on to

make it negative

we use not before have

right here so what does this grammar do

why should we use this grammar we use

could have and could not have to express

past possibility past possibility

so that means we want to talk about

something

that happened or that did not happen in

the past

we just want to express it was possible

or impossible so

to imagine this imagine a timeline so

here’s the past

here’s now our lesson and then into the

future

so when we make a positive could have

past participle verb statement

it refers to something

in the past that was possible

that was possible but a key with this

grammar point is

we just want to talk about it so that

means this thing

it didn’t happen it didn’t happen but we

just

want to imagine that it was possible

okay on the other hand when we make a

negative

could not have something

it refers to something that was not

possible in the past so

again the opposite this thing did happen

but we want to imagine a situation

that is different from the past so a lot

of people ask me like can i just

change could and would can i use them in

the same way the answer is no

they communicate very very different

ideas

i made a modal verbs in the past lesson

about

wood so please check that out if you

have questions about how to use wood i

will put a link to it

after the stream in the youtube

description for this video so please

check that out if you want to understand

the differences

so let’s practice uh

some positive and some negative

statements and if you have one please

send it in the chat i will try

to check your answers live and give you

some feedback

so let’s take a look at this sentence if

i

had studied i could have passed the test

if i had studied i could have passed the

test

here we see a very common grammar

pattern

with this could have pattern with this

could have structure

it’s very common to see these kinds of

structures with an if statement so if

something something something usually if

plus this past perfect because

we’re talking about a past situation

yeah

or a past imaginary situation so it’s

very common to see an

if i had something something i could

have

something something so this is a very

common uh

structure you can practice this one so

what is happening in this sentence

first here’s our could have and

past is the past participle form of the

verb

i could have passed the test if i had

studied

so what does this mean it means

i did not study first i did not study

but i want to imagine

if i had if i had studied

i could have passed the test that means

in the past

there was a past possibility

of passing the test but

i did not pass the test why probably

because

i didn’t study so again we want to just

imagine

past possibility okay

let’s look at a negative sentence and

then i’ll come to

the chat to try to check some of your

examples okay

so a negative sentence we could not

have achieved our goals without our

great

team once more we could not

have achieved our goals without our

great team so this is a negative

could not have achieved is the past

participle form of

achieve we could not have achieved our

goals

then what is happening here so we are

expressing

a negative yeah so that means achieved

our goals this is the action

the activity kind of we want to express

that action in the past

there was no possibility for it but

we had a great team so this this

without means if it’s like saying

if we had not had a great team

if we had not had our great team we

would not or we could not have achieved

our goals

so this without is like a short way a

very short

quick way of saying uh had not had or

if we had not had very convenient

this word so here is how we use it for a

negative

so this is a compliment to our team yeah

okay great i will come for your example

sentences now uh

try to make an example sentence too uh

silva says if i had studied with alicia

before i could have had a better english

level all right pretty good

to make the last part i could have

had maybe a better english level we

might say i could have

maybe achieved a higher english level

uh i could have slept but instead i

studied english good

okay good good good oh jantani says if i

had a good education

i could have had a beautiful life so

make sure

when your verb is have and then the next

verb is

have as well could have had

i could have had okay

on facebook barrage says if i hadn’t

gone to the hospital

oh i wouldn’t now that’s a wooden

example sentence good

we’re practicing good today i wouldn’t

have had chronic pain it’s correct

though nice sentence uh

let’s see jose says we could not have

assessed the facility without the audit

checklist

nice perfect and great vocabulary in

that okay

um what happened to your board i’m

teaching from my house

so okay um

deepak on youtube says if i had enough

money

maybe if i had had because again

we are talking about the past yeah if i

had had enough money

i could have purchased a netflix

subscription

for a year for a year great okay nice

examples everybody

let’s look at two more longer examples i

want to show some kind of

natural long examples that use this

grammar

and then we’ll go to part two so another

positive sentence

you could have come hiking with us

if you had arrived in town earlier

you could have come hiking with us if

you had arrived in town earlier

so what’s happening here you could have

come this is our could have structure

the activity was hiking

you could have come hiking with us

here’s our if again so a very common

pattern

if with this if you had arrived in town

earlier earlier this point right here

early year is it common a very common is

rather is where i see a very common

mistake in learners

many learners say if you had arrived in

town

early early the reason this

has to be this must be early year

is because we are expressing earlier

than the time you actually arrived

earlier than the time you actually read

so if i arrived in town at two o’clock

p.m

but uh in order to go hiking

i had to arrive at 12 o’clock

that’s earlier than the time i actually

arrived so we have to use the

comparative form

here if you could have come hiking with

us if you had arrived in town earlier so

this sentence

just makes the if part last

in the sentence you can switch it so if

can come at the beginning

okay one more negative example then we

will go to part

two our manager was in meetings

all morning so she couldn’t have had

time to review

the documents we sent again

our manager was in meetings all morning

so she couldn’t have had time to review

the documents we sent so what is

happening in this sentence

there’s no if right what’s going on so

we’re talking about this past condition

where our manager was in

meeting so in meetings means she was

busy she was

attending meetings all morning

so she couldn’t have had

that means it was impossible

she had time to review the documents we

sent

she couldn’t have had time to review the

documents we sent

and again here i’ve used have

and the next verb is also have but i

have to use

the past participle form of the verb so

have had she couldn’t have had time to

review the documents

we sent okay

what else what are your example

sentences uh i’m looking for your

notifications

uh says if i had learned a new language

i could have spoken with new people

great nice example sentence nice example

sentence

uh okay i think you guys have got it i

think everybody’s doing great with this

grammar nicely done

uh let’s take a quick break and then

we’ll continue to part

two part two ah you can send your

examples

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okay um we will continue on now

so if you’re just joining today’s lesson

is

about a modal verb could we’re

practicing using

could have and couldn’t have in this

week’s lesson so if you have not already

please make

sure to like and share the video so that

other people

can find today’s lesson alrighty

so let’s move on to part two i’m going

to show you again

today’s lesson boards you can take a

picture if you like

so here we go could and could not

have statements this was part one for

today

now i’m going to talk now i’m going to

talk about

part two part two is going to cover

questions questions so i’m going to talk

about yes no and information

questions let’s go all right some of you

are asking me about the link

for those pdfs i showed if you’re

watching on youtube check

the description not the chat box check

the description

alrighty let’s go to part two questions

how to make questions with could

it’s kind of tricky i think so let’s

practice

okay so could and could not have

questions questions how do we make

questions with this grammar

i have one pattern listed here

but actually there are two question

structures

inside it so we begin this question

pattern

with whq whq that means a wh

question who what when where why

how also so whq

could plus subject

plus have and past participle

verb we can also use a negative here

couldn’t subject have past participle

verb

but an important note

when we use the negative here this

negative

question pattern is usually used to make

confirmation questions what does that

mean a confirmation question

that means when you want to ask someone

is this right

is that right we use this negative

couldn’t pattern that’s usually what we

use it we typically

don’t use this wh question plus the

negative form

we usually use this negative form to

check

something okay let’s continue then

i’m going to introduce a bunch of

different examples

of questions questions yes or no

questions

and information questions the first one

this is one i included because you can

use this question

to get feedback feedback especially

if you make a mistake you can use this

at work

you can use it at school as well the

question is what

could i have done better what

could i have done better so this

question

there’s a lot actually there’s a lot of

information in this question

it’s like saying i understand

my performance was a little low or my

performance

was very low maybe at work or at school

so you ask your co-worker or your boss

or your teammate

what could i have done better so that

means

in the past what choice or what

different action should i have taken

so what could i have done better than i

did in other words

so this is an example of a positive

information question

okay another one this is another very

common one

and this is a confirmation question you

can use

uh in many different situations here i

chose this example

you’re late you’re late couldn’t you

have texted couldn’t you have texted so

to text means to pick up your phone and

send a text message

to say i’m late i’m late i’m going to be

late

so you’re late couldn’t you have texted

this means wasn’t it possible

for you to text me in other words but

this is a very

short and easy way to say it couldn’t

you have texted

again you cannot change could for would

in this example so you cannot use uh

would here

you’re late couldn’t you have texted you

can use that

and you can use a different verb too

you’re late couldn’t you have called

something like that so this is a very

common

negative question here’s another one

that you can use if you are maybe

working

in a team so maybe like doing research

or looking at data

data analysis or something so

this is where could

we have made a mistake

where could we have made a mistake

so again past

and we’re asking hmm

it’s kind of like again we’re looking

for feedback but in a group

like uh did we do something wrong

if so where is it possible it was here

or here

so again this is about this is like a

group kind of feedback or a group

discussion question

where could we have made a mistake i

don’t know

okay uh another one this

is a good pattern for arguments for

arguments

uh let’s see so how could i

have known you got a new

phone number you didn’t tell me how

could i have known you got a new phone

number

so that means how there was no

possibility

for me to know you got a new phone

number

how could i have known how was it

possible

for me to know you didn’t tell me so

you can change this part right here so

how could i have known blah blah blah

how could i have known

uh you moved to a new apartment or how

could i have known

you cancelled uh the reservation so

some kind of uh like key update you can

put a key update here how could i have

known

you got a new phone number so this uh

expresses

kind of a frustrated feeling like i’m

angry i didn’t know some information

but maybe the other person isn’t very

logical like they’re mad

you didn’t call but you didn’t know they

had a new phone number

so this is a good one for arguments how

could i have known that

okay one more question pattern

uh this one who could have taken

my coffee i thought i was the only

person in the office today

who could have taken my coffee so this

is a good one

to use when you are thinking by yourself

you’re thinking by yourself

you’re like what what happened who could

have

taken in this case so you can change

this verb

of course to match what you’re wondering

about

like hmm who could have called me just

now

i don’t know that phone number so you

can change this verb of course

for when you’re wondering about

something

who could have done

that action in this case who could have

taken my coffee

i thought i was the only person in the

office so this is when

your coffee just disappears strangely i

don’t know maybe it’s happened to you

okay so this is how we use could

and could not have to make questions to

make questions

okay uh let’s see

i’m looking for your examples now rascal

says how could i have known that you

were in the usa

very nice okay uh bhavna

who could have eaten my pizza good who

could have

eaten eaten who could have

eaten my pizza so

make sure this eaten is the past

participle

verb form here past participle verb

uh what could i have done to make up for

my mistake very nice

very nice uh other examples

who could have stolen my keys very nice

okay good good examples everybody on

facebook i’m looking for your example

um let’s see

raquel says can we say could plus

present perfect uh

in this grammar no we cannot say that

like could

uh has like he could has

something or other no we cannot use a

present perfect

after this we need to use at half half

so separate grammar points there okay

others uh raquel says what could have

happened

with my cell phone very nice okay

fantastic nice job with questions

everybody great so i hope you found a

useful pattern

here this one again good for feedback

this one good for when you’re frustrated

with someone’s poor communication skills

uh oh other examples are coming in now

fantastic who could have stolen my book

perfect

okay how could i have known she was your

girlfriend oh

douglas very nice example kind of

scandalous

on facebook uh china says who could have

taken my place

very nice example uh asiyasuki

says how could i have known you bought

a house be careful you bought a house

brought

means bring to bring a house maybe not

bring

so how could i have known you bought a

house okay

roger how could i have known about modal

verbs here

by studying maybe yeah good example

sentence

uh who could have picked up my ball pen

who could have picked up my ball pen

stacy uh

zaid says who could have taken my car oh

very nice example sentence very nice

example

okay new on youtube says who could have

sent messages to me i don’t give my

phone number to anyone good

very very close so maybe a good practice

point for many of you make sure you use

the past

participle verb form when you’re making

your questions here

okay let’s continue to the last part of

today’s lesson

if you’re just joining today’s lesson is

about modal verbs in the past we are

focusing i’ll show you the lesson title

if you’re just joining

if you’re just joining today’s lesson

focus is modal verbs in the past i’m

talking about how to use

could have and couldn’t have so

we’re going to go to the final part

of today’s lesson uh real quick i will

show you again

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let’s go to the last part of today’s

lesson uh also if you’re just joining

please make sure to like and share the

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all right

i’ll show you today’s lesson uh flow

once more you can take a picture if you

like

means frequently asked questions

frequently asked questions ah

all right so let’s go to that let me get

this out of here

all right faq

what are your frequently asked questions

so frequently asked questions things

i notice you ask me about is frequently

asked questions here

first i want to talk about this

use of could have and could not have

i think many uh many people get kind of

confused

about how to use this with been

could have been or could not have been

when we use this

grammar pattern with the verb be

we can make a statement about a

condition

or we can also use it to create a

passive sentence so i want to share a

couple of examples

because the grammar the grammar is the

same as the grammar

we talked about before we make the

sentence in the same way

but we follow the verb

with some different information so we’re

following the verb with

a condition or a status or like a job

so for example if i had studied harder

when i was a kid i could have

been a doctor if i had studied harder

when i was a kid

i could have been a doctor so here could

have been a doctor this is like a

condition we can think of it like

condition or a status my status

could have been doctor so this means

i am not a doctor but i want to imagine

the possibility in the past so we can do

that by using

bin here let’s look at a negative

example of this

this is a conversation so person a

says was that risa risa

was that risa person b says no

that couldn’t have been risa

she’s working from home today no

that couldn’t have been risa she’s

working from home today

so this expresses that it’s not

possible that that person

is risa so when you use a person’s

name here of course

it’s it’s kind of strange to imagine

it’s like a condition

or something like that uh so it’s

uh it’s it’s okay to use a person’s name

here when you’re

talking when you’re asking like is that

so-and-so or is that so-and-so

so couldn’t have been risa okay finally

one more example another coffee stealing

example my coffee’s gone

says person a my coffee’s gone and b

hmm could it have been taken by someone

else

could it have been taken by someone else

so

this is a passive structure yeah could

it have been

taken by someone else

or by someone is also okay so we can use

this bin

taken to create those passive structures

as well this will create yes

an even more uh what should i say an

even deeper

uh more complex sentence okay

so this is how we use bin i wanted to

cover that

the final point for today is an easy one

uh one that everyone can consider

pronunciation point so could have

could have and couldn’t have i in this

lesson

i have been using very clear

pronunciation

to focus on today’s grammar point

however

in everyday speech we don’t say could

have

and could not have or couldn’t have

in everyday speech could have sounds

like coulda

coulda and couldn’t have sounds like

couldn’t note this is for spoken

english only it’s not used in writing we

do not use

kuda and kudna in writing this is for

your spoken english only

so a couple i’ll read a couple examples

so i could have been

a doctor at native speed sounds like i

could have been a doctor

i could have been a doctor or that

couldn’t have been risa sounds like no

that couldn’t have been risa

no that couldn’t have been risa so

couldn’t

couldn’t have been in this case or could

have been

sounds like could have been could have

been so the key difference is this could

this comes in with the negative form

couldn’t have sounds like couldn’t

couldn’t

so you might think oh my gosh coulda and

couldn’t

sound so different but there’s a

different rhythm there

coulda couldn’t so listen for this

uh in your listening practice that

little sound

creates the negative form in everyday

speech okay

uh we’ll finish there wow that was great

that was a lot but i think we

got it um i’m looking now in the chat

for your questions nice example

sentences today everybody

great work with that some questions are

coming in how do i spell

architecture if you have a spelling

question i would suggest

using google but your spelling is good

just remove one c there

uh where can i get free pdf lessons

check the link below the video

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uh nura says so questions statements

like who could have uh don’t have

subjects after could right yes that’s

correct that’s correct

so i introduced in the question part of

today’s lesson

i introduced this one this question

pattern

um but yes when you where was your

question

uh when you’re asking like these kind of

wondering

style questions who could have blah blah

yeah you don’t have to

uh you don’t need to put a subject right

here

you’re kind of wondering who did this

thing

but you don’t always have to have that

that’s correct

okay other questions i don’t

see any uh some other examples are

coming in

um all right that looks good to me

so i’ll end there for this week thank

you as always

for joining me live it was very fun

a lot of good fun uh i’m gonna show you

the next lesson’s details i’ll be back

next week as always

next week uh next week oh my gosh august

12th

that reminds me this week’s lesson is

our three year anniversary of live

streams wow

time flies can you believe it so next

week we’ll be back

august 12th wednesday august 12th at 10

pm eastern

standard time 15 phrasal verbs

for work and for school hooray phrasal

verbs

everybody always asks me for help about

phrasal verbs

so i’m going to cover 15 phrasal verbs

that you can use at your job or that you

can use at school

i hope that these are helpful for you

right now uh ah anna lucia thank you so

much for your support in the youtube

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the video if you are watching on

facebook

this is all free stuff to practice

conversational phrases and vocabulary i

will say goodbye so thanks so much

for liking and sharing this lesson enjoy

the rest of your week enjoy

the rest of your day and i will see you

again soon bye