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Viceidol Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

can't have been doing V.S. couldn't have been doing

0※ She 01u01b01font00couldn't02font00 have been swimming02b02u00 all day.02br
02br
00May I ask if I can rewrite the above sentence as the following one?02br
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00※ She 01u01b01font00can't02font00 have been swimming02b02u00 all day.02br
02br
00Please help me solve my doubt, thank you very much!0-
  

Top answer

0Your sentence is in the past tense. "Can" is present tense. 0-

— Anonymous

  • 0Your sentence is in the past tense.
  • "Can" is present tense.
  • 0-
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6 Answers
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0Your sentence is in the past tense. "Can" is present tense. No, you may not replace "could" with "can" in that sentence.0-
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0I'm not sure that 01b00can/could + have + been + V(ing)02b00 is correct. At least, I've run across 01b00can/could + Perfect Infinitive02b00 only up to now. For example:02br
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00She 01b00can't 01i00have swum02i02b00 the whole day. ( = It's not possible that she swam all day long. )02
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Viceidol12cite10※ She 11u11b11font10couldn't12font10 have been swimming12b12u10 all day.12br
10May I ask if I can rewrite the above sentence as the following one?12br
10※ She 11u11b11font
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0 Hi Ruslana02br
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00The use of the continuous form is fine. Imagine this:02br
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00A: Jane has been swimming all day.02br
00B: She can't have been swimming all day. Mary told me that she and Jane spent the morning shopping.0-
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0Thanks, Yankee! 050010id1
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AnonymousNo, you may not replace "could" with "can" in that sentence.
Hi. Can't have been and couldn't have been have similar meanings. There are some differences though:

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  • "Can't have been" suggests that it happened more recently. It expresses a judgment about a recent action or situation, a context in whi
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