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i want to know about use of can have V 3. Can u narrate me some similar sentences

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

I want to know about the use of "can have" + V 3. Can you give me some example sentences?

This form is exceedingly rare.
In American English, we sometimes use the negative "can't have" + V3.

Use "could have." It is far more common.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymouscan have V 3

It's as rare as hen's teeth. I used fraze.it to look it up with three very common V3s (done, gone, seen), and I only found 10 examples. Those verbs are so common that if "can have V3" were used in the same proportion as other modal constructions, I should have found examples in the thousands.

The typical example uses a negative polarity item such as 'few' (not many), 'little' (not much), 'not every', and so on, but the grouping of interest can also be found in questions both direct and indirect. Examples in purely affirmative environments are almost non-existent. Here are a few examples based on what I found:

Few scientists who have entered that field of study can have done so as the result of a random choice.
Recent events can have done little to lift the mood of the president.
Not every clothes shop can have gone bust in the recession.
Few can have seen the obverse of the medal that they wore around their necks.
No one can have seen or compared every fingerprint in the world.
How can England have gone from accomplished performers to such an indecisive lot?
Ottoline has to follow a trail of clues to find out where Mr Munroe can have gone.

CJ

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