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Martinlee Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Modal

Hi there,

Louisa is still in Palma, so you can't have seen her at the library.
In the above sentence,is it correct to use 'couldn't see' instead of 'can't have seen'?

Thanks
  

Top answer

Yes. "Can't" is wrong here.

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5 Answers
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Yes. "Can't" is wrong here.
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martinleeIn the above sentence,is it correct to use 'couldn't see' instead of 'can't have seen'?
Both are in use, actually. Swan (Practical English Usage) deals with this at 121.1 and 123.6. There is also a discussion here:

http://www.
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I considered it a bit more, and rolled it around in the brain.

Louisa is still in Palma, so you couldn't have seen her at the library. - This is natural. It is speaking about a past incident.

Louisa is still in Palma, so you can't see her at the library. - This is also natural. It is speaking of the future.
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If you need two more cents, I see nothing wrong with "can't", if only because it sounds fine to me. To justify it, as I am speaking to him, in the present, what he claims to have seen he cannot have seen.
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Hi there,

I got the answer from this link:



Under modal, question number 3
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