Negative past modal verbs

Question

A: Why didn't he come to my party yesterday?
B: I think he may not have known about you party.
Another,
A: Why didn't you help me yesterday? Couldn't you have helped me?(It means 'wasn't it possible for you to help me', right? )
B: yes, I couldn't have.

Would you mind checking tjje conversations above? Are the correct?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

AnonymousA: Why didn't he come to my party yesterday?B: I think he may not have known about you party.

Transfer the negation to the first clause with "I think".

A: Why didn't he come to my party?
B: I don't think he knew about your party.

Otherwise:

A: Why didn't he come to my party?
B: He [may / might] not have known about your party. ~ Maybe he didn't know about your party.

AnonymousA: Why didn't you help me yesterday? Couldn't you have helped me?(It means 'wasn't it possible for you to help me', right? )B: yes, I couldn't have.

A: Why didn't you help me? Couldn't you have helped me?
[Implies: I am offended that you did not help me. It was the least you could have done for me. After all, we are friends.]
B: I'm very sorry. There was an emergency that I had to take care of so I wasn't able to help.
[This is the appropriate response to the complaint.]

Couldn't you have ...? can be used to complain and to show that you feel insulted.
It can also be used to speculate on a course of action that was not taken: Couldn't you have used some towels to stop the bleeding?

Otherwise:

A: Why didn't you help me? Were you unable to help?
B: Yes, I was. Sorry about that.

Or:

A: I was surprised that you didn't help me. Weren't you able to help?
B: No, I wasn't. Sorry about that.

CJ

GPY · Answer

AnonymousA: Why didn't he come to my party yesterday?B: I think he may not have known about you party.

This is OK except for the typo "your party", but I think I would most naturally use "might" rather than "may".

AnonymousA: Why didn't you help me yesterday? Couldn't you have helped me?(It means 'wasn't it possible for you to help me', right? )

Right, with a complaining or dissatisfied nuance from A.

AnonymousB: yes, I couldn't have.

This isn't right. The Yes/No answers are "Yes, I could (have)" or "No, I couldn't (have)". Neither of these seems very sympathetic or explanatory in isolation, so often you would say something else too.

Negative past modal verbs

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