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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Are these sentences correct?

Dear users

I was wondering whether both 1 and 2 can be said to pay somebody a compliment. Clearly this is the function of sentence 2, what about sentence 1?

1. You can't be more helpful.
2. You couldn't be more helpful

Thank you in advance!
Dan
  

Top answer

Are they meant to refer to present assistance or past assistance? Anyway, the one with 'can' sounds a little flippant to me.

— Mister Micawber

  • Are they meant to refer to present assistance or past assistance?
  • Anyway, the one with 'can' sounds a little flippant to me.
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4 Answers
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Are they meant to refer to present assistance or past assistance? Anyway, the one with 'can' sounds a little flippant to me.
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They are meant to refer to present assistance. For the past we would use "couldn't have been", wouldn't we?
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That's right. I was just checking your understanding.
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