“could not be foreseen” or “could not be foreseen”？

Question

Which of the following is correct? If both are correct, is there any difference?The difficulties could not have been foreseen. The difficulties could not be foreseen.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

wangqh2696122The difficulties could not have been foreseen.
The difficulties could not be foreseen.

Both are correct. The first one looks backwards. The second one looks forwards from a point in the past.

The first one is somewhat hypothetical; the second one is not.

The first one asks you to imagine yourself in a certain situation in the past.
The second one simply tells you what the situation in the past was like.

X is the present.
R is the reference point in the past.
Time moves from left to right.

........................X.................. If you had been there at that time,

<---could not you would not have been able to

have been foresee the difficulties.

foreseen

..........R.............X.................. At that time, you were not able

could not ---> to foresee the difficulties.

be foreseen

I find it a little harder to think of a case where I would use the second one. I think most situations we run into in daily life would lead us to choose the first.

CJ

Wangqh2696122 · Answer

Got it!  Thank you!

“could not be foreseen” or “could not be foreseen”？

Which of the following is correct? If both are correct, is there any difference?

The difficulties could not have been foreseen.

The difficulties could not be foreseen.

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