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Class car 458 Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

Could have p.p.

Here's an conversation I got from my English textbook:

A: Are you able to tear yourself away from your girlfriend for a couple hours?

B: Yes. She isn’t my boss.

A: Could have surprised me.

B: I will go to Eric’s on Sunday if you leave me alone.

What does "could have surprised me" here possibly mean?

  

Top answer

class car 458 What does "could have surprised me" here possibly mean? It means that your textbook was written by non-native English speakers. The expression is "could have fooled me".

— Anonymous

  • class car 458 What does "could have surprised me" here possibly mean?
  • It means that your textbook was written by non-native English speakers.
  • The expression is "could have fooled me".
  • In other words, it sure looks like she's his boss.
  • By the way, "a couple hours" is non-standard and sounds quite strange to a lot of us.
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2 Answers
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class car 458What does "could have surprised me" here possibly mean?

It means that your textbook was written by non-native English speakers. The expression is "could have fooled me". In other words, it sure looks like she's his boss. By the way, "a couple hours" is non-standard and sounds quite strange to a lot of us. It's "a couple of hours".

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class car 458What does "could have surprised me" here possibly mean?

It appears to be some kind of variation of (or mistake for) the expression "(You) could have fooled me", which is used to express disbelief or scepticism. I have never heard it, and there are not many relevant Google hits that I can see. I'm not even sure that it logically makes sense.

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