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Nugso Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Could + Could Have

Hello.

A friend of mine keeps telling could in these such situations;

We could win this game.(The game is already over)

We could pick another players.

You could defeat him by using your 1st skill.( Again, the chance of defeat has already gone)

In my opinion, he should use could have instead of could.

We could have won this game.

We could have picked....

You could have defeated him....

Which one is correct? If both are wrong, can you help me to correct?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

Hi,Nugso. I think "We could win this game"means "We can win this game"and "the thing has gone". Could is the past tense of can.

— Anonymous

  • Hi,Nugso.
  • I think "We could win this game"means "We can win this game"and "the thing has gone".
  • Could is the past tense of can.
  • So i think this sentence shouldn't contain "have".
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10 Answers
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Hi,Nugso.
I think "We could win this game"means "We can win this game"and "the thing has gone". Could is the past tense of can. So i think this sentence shouldn't contain "have".
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If the game is over, and you did not win, then your sentences are correct:
NugsoWe could have won this game.We could have picked....You could have defeated him....
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NugsoA friend of mine keeps telling saying could in these such situations;We could win this game.(The game is already over)
Shocking! I hope you can still remain friends after you tell him/her how wrong this is!
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I am not going to correct his mistakes then. Emotion: stick out tongue

So; I can say We could have won If you had played well. What about
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Nugso What about even If you had played well we could not win this game.
No -- after the game is over, it would be "Even if you had played well, we could not have won this game."
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NugsoWhat about even If you had played well we could not win this game. Is second one correct?
No.
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Thank you both I think It's OK to use it according to your sentence;

"could" (without "have") cannot be used to express past success even though "could not" can be used to express past failure. It's an oddity of "could".

It seems like I did not get your point. How fool I am
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Nugso"could" (without "have") cannot be used to express past success even though "could not" can be used to express past failure. It's an oddity of "could".
Here's an example that will illustrate the point.

We ran fast, but even so, we could not catch the bus. (~ We failed to catch the bus.) This is fine.
We ran fast, and by doing so,
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Thank you, CJ. Eventually, I have gotten your point!
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NugsoI have gotten your point!
Wonderful!

CJ
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