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Hans51 Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
He may have been clumsy in following the recipe
He may have been clumsy in following the recipe, but does his best to greet the holiday with rice cake soup.
I was wondering if may have been here is a past guess like The guy may have been Tom
or it is may + present perfect tense like
He has been there for six hours -> He may have been there for six hours. [This grammar is possible?]
I think that He may have been clumsy is used for a past guess.
What do you native English speakers think?
Thank you so much as usual in advance.
I was wondering if may have been here is a past guess like The guy may have been Tom
or it is may + present perfect tense like
He has been there for six hours -> He may have been there for six hours. [This grammar is possible?]
I think that He may have been clumsy is used for a past guess.
What do you native English speakers think?
Thank you so much as usual in advance.
Top answer
Hans51 I was wondering if may have been here is a past guess like The guy may have been Tomor it is may + present perfect tense likeHe has been there for six hours -> He may have been there for six hours. ] I can't quite see the distinction that you are making. Anyway, "may have been" does typically describe a guess about what happened in the past.
- Hans51 I was wondering if may have been here is a past guess like The guy may have been Tomor it is may + present perfect tense likeHe has been there for six hours -> He may have been there for six hours.
- ] I can't quite see the distinction that you are making.
- Anyway, "may have been" does typically describe a guess about what happened in the past.
- However, in the original sentence, because of the following "but", it is more contrastive.
- In other words, the writer is most likely saying that he was clumsy, but nevertheless he does his best.
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1 Answers
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Hans51I was wondering if may have been here is a past guess like The guy may have been Tomor it is may + present perfect tense likeHe has been there for six hours -> He may have been there for six hours. [This grammar is possible?]I can't quite see the distinction that you are making.
Anyway, "may have been" does typically describe a guess about w
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