Can "could" mean "I think"

Question

To avoid too frequent usage of “I think,” “I guess” “In my view/opinion,” “it seems to be,” can I use “could” instead of all these in some situations?
See: “The bag we found could be Joe’s.” Is it correct? I mean that there are several signs (the contents of the bag or anything else) which make me rightly think that it is Joe’s bag. So I could also say, “I think the bag is Joe’s,” or “the bag seems to be Joe’s,” or “in my opinion, the bag is Joe’s”.
And similarly: can I say that “The meaning of the story could be that…” – suppose, there is a symbolic story which is hard to say what about, but I think that I understand it, so it is intended to mean “I think the meaning of the story is…”, expressing my opinion, making a declaration.
But the truth is that when I looked into my Hungarian language book, I found only too basic meaning of “could” mentioned: 1. the past version of “can,” 2. the conditional version of “can.” So is it really an important third meaning of it?

Fivejedjon · Accepted Answer

KaaJeeut the truth is that when I looked into my Hungarian language book, I found only towo basic meanings of “could” mentioned: 1. the past version of “can,” 2. the conditional version of “can.” So is it really an important third meaning of it?

It's not really a completely different meaning. It is connected with the possibility/ability meaning of can/could.

"The bag we found could be Joe's" means something like "It is possible that the bag is Joe's" rather than "I think the bag is Joe's". 'I think' suggests a greater degree of certainty than 'could'.

KaaJee · Answer

Thank you!
Well, I would lie if I said that I understand why it is not a third meaning. When I claim, state something, expressing my opinion, it is neither a past or a conditional thing, even if that opinion is not too firm, but it doesn’t have any conditional content. So one can say, “the bag could be Joe’s” with the continuation: “if I gave it to him” or “if he had had enough money to buy it,” but in these situations the bag isn’t Joe’s at all, so from my point of view it is a very different meaning when, probably or only maybe, the bag is Joe’s. I suppose you’ve just meant that grammatically, originally it is not different, evolving from the past typed could or from the conditional could.
But what is important is its usage. Well, in my previous post I created sentences with “can” and it yielded very false meanings. I also made some attempts with “may” and with “might” but they express a relatively low degree of possibility.
I hoped that maybe “could” means something like “I think,” “in my opinion,” meaning that it is without considerable doubt, but I didn’t want to decide if then it is "without any doubt" or it is just quite probable. If it had been so, than it would have been used generally, so it would have been good. Just to specify how I would have liked to use “could.” So I can’t use it instead of “I think.” But I wonder if “I guess” is different than “I think,” allowing more doubts to be. So do you think that I can use “could” instead of “I guess”? It would also be great. Of course, I won’t if you don’t suggest to do so.

Fivejedjon · Answer

'Could' simply expresses a degree of possibility. It does not necessarily suggest that the speaker thinks/guesses/supposes/ etc that that is really the case.

Sometimes 'could' functions directly as a past or conditional for of 'can', as in:

I can speak French.
I could speak French when I was only four.
I could speak French if you taught me.

Sometimes there is no 'can' equivalent of 'could':

The bag could be Joe's. Here 'could' is not very different in meaning from 'might'

Confusingly, there is a 'can' equivalent in the negative:

1. The bag can't be Joe's. - There is no possibility that it is Joe's.
2. The bag couldn't be Joe's. - There is no great possibility that it is Joe's.

The speaker of #2 is expressing less certainty of the impossibility of the bag's being Joe's.

KaaJee · Answer

Thank you!

CalifJim · Answer

KaaJeeThe bag we found could be Joe’s.

You may be interested in the following links.

CJ

KaaJee · Answer

They'll be very useful, thanks.

KaaJee · Answer

I’ve read the links you recommended to me.There is a point where you showed that in some cases, the “’ability’ reading is blocked.” (“It might/may/could rain this afternoon.”)I don’t know if in another case, the conditional role of “could” can also be blocked if there isn’t “if” in the sentence.When I say, "it could be very good," is it clear that it's not a conditional statement but I say that "it seems to be very good." And what should I write if it should be a conditional statement?See: -Come with us tomorrow.         -It could be very good. I wonder if the answer can have two meanings:a)It’s a good idea, yes I will.b)It could be very good, if I could, but I can’t.As for the meaning of strong (or not too strong) probability of “could” or something else,I’ve taken one of your example."For hydrocarbon molecules of this type, electrophoresis may give better results."It was an American English sentence. Without knowing what the sentence mean, I think “may” is similar to the imaginary(?) modal I would like to use in the mentioned cases, though not in the American version of English. So is it something like “seems to give better results”?See, if I express my opinion in any kind of subject, I should be polite in some cases. Even if my opinion is strong enough, I can’t say in every situation that it’s only me who knows the truth. It would be good to make it clear that it’s my opinion, but it also would be good to let a slight chance that I’m not infallible. For e.g. instead of "the phenomenon is caused by…" But now I think that the best is keeping using “I think” and “seems to” and similar phrases.

CalifJim · Answer

KaaJeein some cases, the “’ability’ reading is blocked.” (“It might/may/could rain this afternoon.”)I don’t know if in another case, the conditional role of “could” can also be blocked if there isn’t “if” in the sentence.When I say, "it could be very good," is it clear that it's not a conditional statement but I say that "it seems to be very good."

Yes, but It could be very good doesn't mean It seems to be very good; it means It is possible that it will be good.

It [may / might / could] be very good. All have the same meaning.

The main meaning of 'can' and 'could' is ability, so there are times when the 'ability' reading is blocked, as I have mentioned in some of my posts. But conditionality is not the main meaning of 'could', so it doesn't make as much sense to speak in terms of blocking this meaning. On the other hand, there are certainly many uses of 'could' which do not involve conditionality.

KaaJeeAnd what should I write if it should be a conditional statement?See: -Come with us tomorrow. -It could be very good. I wonder if the answer can have two meanings:a)It’s a good idea, yes I will.b)It could be very good, if I could, but I can’t.

This question seems rather twisted, so I'm not sure what you're asking.

(Come with us tomorrow.) It could be very good. = It might be very good. = It is possible that it will be very good. = It is possible that you will like it.

Your example b) uses two different kinds of 'could' (logical possibility and physical ability)

It [could / might] be very good (possible) if I could (= if I were ableto go with you tomorrow).

KaaJeeAs for the meaning of strong (or not too strong) probability of “could” or something else,I’ve taken one of your example."For hydrocarbon molecules of this type, electrophoresis may give better results."It was an American English sentence. Without knowing what the sentence mean, I think “may” is similar to the imaginary(?) modal I would like to use in the mentioned cases, though not in the American version of English. So is it something like “seems to give better results”?

The sentence in question could just as easily occur in British English as in American English. 'may' is not an imaginary modal. I have never heard of such a thing. 'may', 'might', (and sometimes 'could') simply mean it is (logically) possible that .... These have nothing to do with 'seeming'. The meaning is:

For hydrocarbon molecules of this type, it is possible that electrophoresis will give better results.

KaaJeef I express my opinion in any kind of subject, I should be polite in some cases. Even if my opinion is strong enough, I can’t say in every situation that it’s only me who knows the truth. It would be good to make it clear that it’s my opinion, but it also would be good to let a slight chance that I’m not infallible. For e.g. instead of "the phenomenon is caused by…" But now I think that the best is keeping using “I think” and “seems to” and similar phrases.

Yes. Good phrases for softening your opinion are I think that, It seems to me that, and In my opinion.

CJ

KaaJee · Answer

'may' is not an imaginary modal. I have never heard of such a thing.

Of course, it's not, but I didn't want to say it is. I tried to say that I was looking for a modal which can be generally used with great confidence to express something similar to the great probability expressed by "may" in the mentioned sentence. But every modal can express very different things, therefore the modal I looking for is only imaginary, as you too have confirmed by suggesting "in my opinion" and similar phrases, and now the case is clearer.
Thank you!

Can "could" mean "I think"

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