Couldn't have?
1. Emily wanted to learn what was going on, but with nobody talking, there was nothing here on the slaughterhouse floor that she couldn't have seen from the safety of the iron galleries above.
2. The man wasn't wearing the Whaler's uniform — in fact , he couldn't have been more different, dressed as he was,in his huge, heavy woolen greatcoat.
Hi. Dear teachers.
Do the two "could have pp"s in both sentences mean "something was impossible in the past"?
Thank you.
Top answer
Yes to the second one. It means he couldn't possibly have dressed in anything more different from the Whaler's uniform. ) The first is different because it's a double negative.
- Yes to the second one.
- It means he couldn't possibly have dressed in anything more different from the Whaler's uniform.
- ) The first is different because it's a double negative.
- "There was nothing..
- " This says that it would have been possibly to see from above everything she saw from her view on the floor.
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Yes to the second one. It means he couldn't possibly have dressed in anything more different from the Whaler's uniform. (It refers to the same time in the past as when the man wasn't in the uniform.)
The first is different because it's a double negative.
"There was nothing.. that she couldn't have seen from...above."
This says that it would have been possibly to see from a
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