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EyeSeeYou Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Should + Have + Past Participle

0Suppose you came across this out-of-context question.02br
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01i01b00Should Mr. Martin have sued the company?02b02i02br
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00Would you agree that there are two interpretations that can be mande of it?02br
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001) Meaning Mr. Martin actually sued the company so we're asking if he was right or not in doing so.02br
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002) Meaning he didn't sue the company so we're asking if doing so would've been a good idea or not.0-
  

Top answer

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— Lil' Ruby Rose

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14 Answers
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0Yes, both are plausible interpretations without further context.0-
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0Interesting!02br
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00So in a similar way, the sentence "Mr. Martin should have sued the company" has to have two interpretations, too!0-
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0No, because you've lost that ambiguity as to whether he has sued or not.02br
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00Your original example could mean either (1) was Mr Martin right to have sued? or (2) has Mr Martin missed the opportunity to sue? Your new example can only mean he has missed the opportunity.0-
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0If we imagine:02br
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00Question:02br
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00Should Mr. Martin have sued the company?01i01b00 ------- 02b02i00 (means 01i001) 02i00Was Mr Martin right to have sued? )02br
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00Answer:02br
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00Yes, he SHOULD (have sued that company). ----------(A
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0 But now you've added context that makes the sentence a confirmation of a previous statement. 0-
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0 Well, yes. Thank you![C] 0-
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0 01i01b00Should Mr. Martin have sued the company?02br
02b02i00(Meaning he didn't sue the company so we're asking if doing so would've been a good idea or not.)02br
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00I thought for the above meaning, the sentence should be 01i01b00Should Mr. Martin sue the company?02b02i00 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Yoong Liat12cite11i11b10Should Mr. Martin have sued the company?12br
12b12i10(Meaning he didn't sue the company so we're asking if doing so would've been a good idea or not.)12br
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10I thought for the above meaning, the sentence should be 11i11b10S
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1blockquote
01cite10Maple12cite12br
10Interesting!12br
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10So in a similar way, the sentence "Mr. Martin should have sued the company" has to have two interpretations, too!12br
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12blockquote
10Maple, 02br
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00Your sentence clearly suggests that Mr. Martin did not
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0 Kooyeen's example about voting for Bush was perfect.02br
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00The meaning of the sentence 01i00"Mr. Martin should have sued the company" 02i00is01i00 02i00not ambiguous01i00. 02i02br
00As L'il Ruby Rose said, it means that Mr. Martin missed the opportunity to sue (and states the opinion that it
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