could have been doing

Question

Hello,
Can we use "could have been doing" as a past deduction? or is it the past choice?
ex: I can't see the ball in the box. She could have been playing with it.
or: I could have been wearing my red suit at the party but i was in a bad mood, so i didn't.
similar to the second ex.: I could have been studying English instead of playing soccer every day after school.

Thank you

GPY · Accepted Answer

I can't see the ball in the box. She could have been playing with it. -- OK. Possibly she has been playing with it and has left it somewhere else.

I could have been wearing my red suit at the party but I was in a bad mood, so I didn't. -- Not correct.

I could have been studying English instead of playing soccer every day after school. -- OK. Normally implies that the speaker wishes he/she had studied English instead of playing soccer.

Remember that the word "I" must always be capitalised, wherever it appears.

Anonymous · Answer

I am terribly sorry for the "i" mistake.

Why is the second sentence wrong?

GPY · Answer

"I could have been wearing ..." does not fit with "so I didn't". You could say this:

I could have worn my red suit to the party, but I was in a bad mood, so I didn't.

"to the party" seems just slightly better than "at the party", since the decision is made beforehand.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousCan we use "could have been doing" as a past deduction? or is it the past choice?

I'm unclear what you mean by the contrast between "deduction" and "choice". In any case, past deduction is normally conveyed by must have.

The ball was missing from the box. She must have been playing with it. (The speaker believes this is the only possible explanation that makes sense.)
_______

could have suggests past possibility rather than past deduction.

She could have been playing with it. ~ Maybe she was playing with it. (The speaker doesn't know and is not willing to make a deduction.)

In the sentence above, could have can be replaced by may have or might have without any change in meaning.
___________

You are right that could have has two meanings. Besides possibility, it can also indicate ability or potential. (I think that's what you meant by "choice", and it's a good description.)

I could have worn my suit to the party, but I didn't.

In this case you're not saying that maybe you wore your suit to the party. You were at the party, so you would have known if you wore that suit or not.

Instead, you're saying that the potential existed for you to wear the suit (or not). As you would put it, you had the ability to choose to wear the suit or not.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for your replies. As a summary : "could have has two meanings. Besides possibility, it can also indicate ability or potential."
I will register and follow your forum. Its a treasure for a non-native speaker

could have been doing

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