Tenses Modal verbs?

Question

Which tenses do you use the modal verbs (would, could, might) with?

Are all these forms correct?

Present
I would fish in a boat (active)
I would be beaten in a game (passive)

Past
I would have fished in a boat (active)
I would have been beaten in a game (passive)

I would have been fishing in a boat (active / ing)
I would have been being beaten in a game (passive / ing)

I have read that only the infinitive (to indiecate present) and past perfect/ past perfect progressive (indicate past) are used with this construction (active and passive voice). Is that correct?

Thank you.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

In American English, the sentence, "I would fish in a boat.", would be used in the following situations:

"When I was living at Pirates' Bay, I would fish in a boat." (This is a straight past situation.)

"If I had may choice, I would fish in a boat, rather than cast from shore." (This is a present-type situation, depicting probability.)

"I would be beaten in a game." would be used in the following situations:

"I'm much better than him in tennis. I would be beaten in a game (by him) very rarely." (This is a present-type situation, depicting probability.)

"When we used to play tennis, I would be beaten in a game (by him) from time to time, but I would win every set." (This is a straight past situation.)

"I would have fished in a boat." would be used in the following situation:

"When I lived at Pirates' Bay, the fishing was great offshore. Casting from shore was pretty good, but I would have fished in a boat if I had had one." (This denotes possibility in past time.)

"I would have been beaten in a game." would be used in the following situation:

"Jim was absolutely terrible at tennis. I would win every point. The only way I would have been beaten in a game would be to concede it to him." (This denotes possibility in past time.)

"I would have been fishing in a boat." would be used in the following situation:

"If I had taken a more leisurely approach to life, I would have been fishing in a boat at 30, rather than working in a bank." (This denotes probability in past time.)

The sentence, "I would have been being beaten in a game.", is ungrammatical.

CalifJim · Answer

Are all these forms correct?

Present
I would fish in a boat (active)
I would be beaten in a game (passive)

I would be fishing in a boat.
I would be being beaten in a game.

Past
I would have fished in a boat (active)
I would have been beaten in a game (passive)

I would have been fishing in a boat (active / ing)
I would have been being beaten in a game (passive / ing)

Yes. You missed two possibilities. (The last tense form in each group of four is almost never used.)

AnonymousI have read that only the infinitive (to indiecate present) and past perfect/ past perfect progressive (indicate past) are used with this construction (active and passive voice). Is that correct?

I don't even understand the question. Modals only come in two 'flavors'. A modal tense and a modal perfect tense. This is not considered "using a modal with a tense". These are the (modal) tenses (when the proper form of the main verb follows).

Modal: will, would, can, could, shall, should, may, might, must
Modal perfect: will have, would have, can have, could have, shall have, should have, may have, might have, must have

The modal tenses always end with the plain form of a verb (infinitive without 'to'). may want, could do, should say, will decide, shall find, must know, might be, ...
The modal perfect tenses always end with the past participle of a verb. may have wanted, could have done, should have said, will have decided, shall have found, must have known, might have been, ...

CJ

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