Does this sentence make sense and is it grammatically correct?
Today I can have prepared well for the meeting
I learnt that "can have past participle" isn't grammatically correct, but I heard from a native speaker this sentence sounds natural. Is it really so?
Top answer
fire1 I learnt that "can have past participle" isn't grammatically correct You may consider it wrong for practical purposes because it is so rarely used, but there is nothing grammatically wrong with it in principle . You will find it mostly in older texts (as far back as the 18th century) and almost always in a context of negative polarity: I don't believe you can have done anything bad. I do not think the enemy can have found their way into these hills yet.
- fire1 I learnt that "can have past participle" isn't grammatically correct You may consider it wrong for practical purposes because it is so rarely used, but there is nothing grammatically wrong with it in principle .
- You will find it mostly in older texts (as far back as the 18th century) and almost always in a context of negative polarity: I don't believe you can have done anything bad.
- I do not think the enemy can have found their way into these hills yet.
- Nobody will suppose you can have taken such pains to qualify yourself for it as I have.
- In today's English it is sometimes seen in questions.
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fire1I learnt that "can have past participle" isn't grammatically correct
You may consider it wrong for practical purposes because it is so rarely used, but there is nothing grammatically wrong with it in principle.
You will find it mostly in older texts (as far back as the 18th century) and almost always in a context of negative polarit
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