Today we've got an advanced English lesson we're going to look at using modals in the
It's a lot to study in one lesson, really
a lot. really a lot it's like 12 hours of grammar that we're going to to in about 10
minutes. So prepare yourself, get yourself a cup of coffee switch
off your phone, go to the bathroom, sit comfortably, whatever and pay attention. This
requires investigation. loud rock music.
Hello and welcome to LetThemTalk the channel that goes deeper into everything about the
English language. Before we get into the grammar a word about pronunciation.
MIGHT HAVE can be contracted MIGHT'VE MUST HAVE to MUST'VE
COULD HAVE to COULD'VE SHOULD HAVE to SHOULD'VE
WOULD HAVE to WOULD'VE. You can say them and write them too.
You might also hear some informal contractions
that are spoken but not written.
MAY'VE. COULDA, WOULDA, SHOULDA, MUSTA...I won't say anything more about that in this video
because we already have 2 videos that coverthis subject I'll put a link to them in the description.
So let's get straight into the grammar
So MAY HAVE and MIGHT HAVE are used to speculate about the past. So what's the difference
between MAY HAVE and MIGHT HAVE. Essentially MAY HAVE has a slightly higher level of
probability but they are interchangable in most sentences but not always there is an
exception to this which I'll explain in a moment.
Let's look at some examples. “Why isn't Karen at work yet it's half past nine?
“I don't know, she might have missed
her train.”(You can also say “she MAY have missed her train”)
“I can't find my keys anywhere, I may have left them in the kitchen” (And you can also use MIGHT HAVE)
Now when you talk about a probability in the past that DIDN'T happen. You have to use MIGHT HAVE you
cannot use MAY HAVE. For example. “The car came round the corner so fast,
I might have been killed.” (but fortunately I wasn't). So in these type of sentences you
about possibilities that didn't happen you must use MIGHT HAVE.
You can use MAY HAVE or MIGHT HAVE with a continuous verb just by adding BEEN + verb
+ ING “They don't yet know why he crashed the
car but they say he might have been drinking. “ For the negative just add NOT after the modal
verb “Quinoa is a wonderful, healthy food that
you might not have heard of. “ So in all these sentences we are discussing
a probability in the past. These are maybe yes, maybe no situations about the past.
- Now it's your turn can you give an answer to these questions?
“She might have eaten some dodgy seafood”
(dodgy just means of suspicious quality)
“She might have been arguing with her boyfriend."
And finally to ask a question just use "Do you think you may/might have"
“She's not here do you think she might have forgotten the appointment?”
“You say you can't find the document anywhere. Do you think you might have lost it?”
So COULD HAVE is sometimes similar to MAY HAVE and MIGHT HAVE and in some cases you can use both but while MAY/MIGHT HAVE speculate
about the past COULD HAVE refers to ability or capability in the past. Let's look at some
examples. "I could have become a professional footballer
but I broke my leg." So we are looking at what you were capable of doing in the past
that didn't happen. "You could have passed your exams, if you had studied
harder". So you had an ability in the past.
"Why isn't he here today, is he sick?"
"Not at all, he could have come but, he decided to stay at home and play the ukulele".
So he was able to come but he chose not to do so.
for the negative to talk about an impossibility use COULDN'T HAVE + past participle.
So remember MIGHT NOT HAVE and MAY NOT HAVE mean possibly not COULD NOT HAVE means definitely
“Even if I had studied for 1000 hours I couldn't have passed that it exam. It was
really impossible.” “Wow! I 100% congratulations. You couldn't have done
any better. “ You can also use COULD HAVE to offer gentle
criticism. For example “You're an hour late - you could have called me"
So that's gentle criticism if you want it to be a bit stronger use
SHOULD HAVE. “You should have called me"
Now as you know MUST in the present is used to talk about obligation. "I must buy some
bananas", "You mustn't smoke in here. "But to talk about obligation in the past you use
HAD TO "Yesterday, I had to buy bananas", for a negative use wasn't allowed to. "We
weren't allowed to smoke". A common mistake is to use MUST HAVE to talk about obligation
in the past but, as we have just seen, it isn't.
So when do we use MUST HAVE + past participle. We use MUST HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE to talk
about what we believe is certain in the past. So if we go back and look at the examples
for MIGHT HAVE and MAY HAVE we can use the same sentences with MUST HAVE if we believe it was a certainty
so for example “Why isn't Karen here it's already half
past 9?” “She must have missed her train” - there
can be no other explanation. “Where are my keys? I must have left them
in the kitchen” - there is no other possibility.
Now it's your turn can you make a sentence with MUST HAVE
“Last week he was poor but I just saw him driving a brand new Ferrari”
“He must have won the lottery” you could have said. Or you could say “he must have stolen it”
Anyway whatever you believe is certain is ok.
Be careful though we don't usually use MUST HAVE with a negative. Instead use COULDN'T HAVE to
talk about a negative certainty “Why isn't he here? He couldn't have forgotten
- he never forgets our reunions!”
We use SHOULD HAVE + past participle to talk about past mistakes and to criticize
past behaviour. The negative is SHOULDN'T HAVE. Let's have a look at some examples.
“I should have won the gold medal instead of the silver but I didn't because of my stupid mistake. “
“Where have you been you should have been here an hour ago. “
“You shouldn't have said that to her. She was very upset. “
“They shouldn't have allowed him to drink the wine. He was only 15. “
We use WOULD HAVE + past pariciple". As
a past conditional to talk not only about a past possibility but also the consequences
of that action. How it affects the time afterwards. “If I had passed my exams I would have become
a doctor. “ “I would have been here an hour ago but
I missed my train. “ The negative is with WOULDN'T HAVE
“He wouldn't have crashed if he hadn't drunk all that whisky. “
“She wouldn't have slapped him if he hadn't been so rude.”
That's it. I hope you learnt something. You can practise this by leaving some sentences in the comments using a MIGHT HAVE,
SHOULD HAVE, MUST HAVE, WOULD HAVE..... Thank you for watching