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Tomasz Klepinowski Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

could have vs could

You could have easily phoned and told me where you were.

You could easily phone me and tell me where you were.

What's the difference in meanings? Up to my thinking, these two mean pretty much the same. Is there any rule elucidating how to use them?
  

Top answer

You could have easily phoned and told me where you were. (Talking about a past situation. ) You could easily phone me and tell me where you are .

— AlpheccaStars

  • You could have easily phoned and told me where you were.
  • (Talking about a past situation.
  • ) You could easily phone me and tell me where you are .
  • )
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13 Answers
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You could have easily phoned and told me where you were. (Talking about a past situation. You did not phone me.)
You could easily phone me and tell me where you are. (Talking about a present or future situation.)
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Tomasz KlepinowskiYou could have easily phoned and told me where you were.
This would be better with "easily" before "have".
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More canonical maybe, but I don't know about better. Emotion: thinking

CJ
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CalifJimMore canonical maybe, but I don't know about better. CJ
It would flow better. Putting "have" before "easily" comes across as clumsy wording .
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Anonymous CalifJimMore canonical maybe, but I don't know about better. CJIt would flow better. Putting "have" before "easily" comes across as clumsy wording .
OK. I'm sure your opinion is correct.

CJ
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Here goes another sentence labelled as correct in my coursebook, which seems to contradict what you, CJ, have said: 'We could hardly see the performance because we were sitting in the back row.'
Here the action is obviously set in the past. My question is why there's used 'could hardly see' instead of 'could hardly have seen'? According to what CJ have said, if it's past we use 'could...have',
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Tomasz Klepinowski'We could hardly see the performance because we were sitting in the back row.'
Correct. The paraphrase is We were almost unable to see the performance ...
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I am not aware of having said anything about 'could' and 'could have' in this thread. I simply verified what Alphecca said about it.
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I think I've figured this out.
  • You could have phoned me (but you didn't and now I'm sulking)
  • I'd topped up her mobile phone yesterday and therefore she could phone me, which basically saved her life (also refers to the past but isn't counterfactual. She was able to do it and so she did)
  • If you could be any movie star for only one day, who would you opt for? (could used as
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Tomasz KlepinowskiWe could hardly see the performance because we were sitting in the back row.
Here could ~ were able to. (past)

We could hardly see ~ We were hardly able to see

We sense it's past because of the content of the sentence. It mentions that we were sitting in the back row.
Tomasz Klepinowski
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AnonymousIt would flow better. Putting "have" before "easily" comes across as clumsy wording .
It is but, it's common in American English.
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