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Outrageous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Could have taken mean ?

I was robbed on a remote lane . My friend said "You could have taken the other road ." => It means my friend advised me to take the other road .

"The car has broken down , how does he get here? " "He could have taken the other transports ." =>It means he properly use the others to come .
Could have taken above have different meaning in different sentences . Am I correct ?
Thank you 
  

Top answer

They do have different meanings, you are right about that. But in first, it is rather a suggestion than advice. You could have chosen a different path and that way avoid being robbed.

— Visnja

  • They do have different meanings, you are right about that.
  • But in first, it is rather a suggestion than advice.
  • You could have chosen a different path and that way avoid being robbed.
  • It cannot be advice because something has already happened and cannot be changed, like the third conditional.
  • Your friend is just making a point what you could have changed.
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7 Answers
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They do have different meanings, you are right about that.

But in first, it is rather a suggestion than advice. You could have chosen a different path and that way avoid being robbed. It cannot be advice because something has already happened and cannot be changed, like the third conditional. Your friend is just making a point what you could have changed.

And talking about the s
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The "could + have + past participle" structure is used for events in the past that didn't happen. In your examples, the speaker is merely emphasizing the wrong choices you made. The speaker could have used "you should have taken..." instead and that would add a dose of criticism to his remarks.

I would say "His/the car has broken down. How will he get there? in the second s
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Thank you, Visnja

I was robbed on a remote lane . My friend said : "You could have taken the other road ." => My friend is giving a suggestion .
"The car has broken down . How does he get here ?" "He could have taken the other road." => The second speaker is giving an assumption .
This is the first time I know what is the difference between advice
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outrageousCould have taken above have different meaning in different sentences . Am I correct ?
Yes, you are correct.

I was robbed on a remote road. What could I have done to avoid that?
You could have taken a different road.
(You had a choice of roads. An alternate choice was available to you.)

His car broke down, and yet he has a
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Your explanations sounded more coherent to a beginner; I understand not only what do they mean in both sentences, but also how to use them.
Thank you, CalifJim.
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Sorry but I think both above sentences are the same and express that something was possible to happen but did not happen due to some problems. In other words, both sentences show that there was a possibility to aviod an incident but finally the incident took place. Yes for advice, we had better use Should in the same structure.

You could have taken the other road means that it was possib
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mansoor99Sorry but I think both above sentences are the same and express that something was possible to happen but did not happen due to some problems.
But the second may have happened, because taking bus as his transport maybe one of his options.
mansoor99Should shows advice, but Could shows possibility.
I think
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