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Ritik Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

Could have been

Hello sir,

I want to ask you difference between the two sentences below .

1)I could have been watching television at home (but I'm wet and cold and tired from my walk in the mountains)

2) I could be watching television at home (but I'm wet and cold and tired from my walk in the mountains).


Kindly elaborate the difference between the two sentences.

  

Top answer

ritik 1) I could have been watching television at home. 2) I could be watching television at home. Assuming that you are talking about your present situation, (2) more directly refers to an alternative that could exist at this actual moment in time, while (1) seems to refer more to a hypothetical time.

— GPY

  • ritik 1) I could have been watching television at home.
  • 2) I could be watching television at home.
  • Assuming that you are talking about your present situation, (2) more directly refers to an alternative that could exist at this actual moment in time, while (1) seems to refer more to a hypothetical time.
  • In practice, the difference may not be very important.
  • (1) can also be used about a past situation, which (2) cannot.
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2 Answers
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ritik1) I could have been watching television at home.
2) I could be watching television at home.

Assuming that you are talking about your present situation, (2) more directly refers to an alternative that could exist at this actual moment in time, while (1) seems to refer more to a hypothetical time. In practice, the difference may not be very importan

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ritik difference

1) is about a past situation.
2) is about a present situation.

1) [I'm should be I was.]
I could have been watching television (then) (but I wasn't).

Or, taken as the potential result of a condition:
If I had/hadn't ... (done something), I could have been watching TV (then or now).

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