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Witiko Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
The difference between the past forms of can / may and the perfect infinitive form
Hello
Thought I'm a frequent visitor of these forums, I've never felt the need of posting here before, mostly because of the fact that the solution to most of my problems has already been found here. But I haven't had luck finding solution to this particular problem yet.
The usage of the modal verbs + the perfect infinitive is well-known to me, yet there are two cases in which I don't see any differences between the meaning of the past form of the verb and the perfect infinitive construction.
These words are may and can and their past (and subjunctive) forms might and could.
I might do it. - Means that either I'll maybe do something under certain circumstances (the subjunctive form), or that I might do something referring to the past action (the past form).
I may / might have done it. - Means that I might have done something in the past. As far as I'm concerned neither of these forms expresses whether the action has been performed and both show uncertainty. I don't see any differences.
I could do it. - Means either I could do something if there was the need to do so (the subjunctive form), or that I could do something referring to the past action (the past form).
I can / could have done it. - Means that I could do something, but I didn't. I agree that this form also shows that the action wasn't performed and certain degree of regret, whilst the past form doesn't tell us whether the action was performed (Why did you kill him? Why, because I could.) The same deal with the negative form (can't / couldn't)
Yet the differences are still marginal. I'm mostly interested about the case #1 though. I should like to know whether there are ANY differences in the meaning, or if it's up to me which one of them I choose. I know that there are differences in the second case, but I might have gotten it wrong and I hope you'll correct me, should some of the information above be incorrect.
Best Regards from the Czech Republic, Witiko.
Thought I'm a frequent visitor of these forums, I've never felt the need of posting here before, mostly because of the fact that the solution to most of my problems has already been found here. But I haven't had luck finding solution to this particular problem yet.
The usage of the modal verbs + the perfect infinitive is well-known to me, yet there are two cases in which I don't see any differences between the meaning of the past form of the verb and the perfect infinitive construction.
These words are may and can and their past (and subjunctive) forms might and could.
I might do it. - Means that either I'll maybe do something under certain circumstances (the subjunctive form), or that I might do something referring to the past action (the past form).
I may / might have done it. - Means that I might have done something in the past. As far as I'm concerned neither of these forms expresses whether the action has been performed and both show uncertainty. I don't see any differences.
I could do it. - Means either I could do something if there was the need to do so (the subjunctive form), or that I could do something referring to the past action (the past form).
I can / could have done it. - Means that I could do something, but I didn't. I agree that this form also shows that the action wasn't performed and certain degree of regret, whilst the past form doesn't tell us whether the action was performed (Why did you kill him? Why, because I could.) The same deal with the negative form (can't / couldn't)
Yet the differences are still marginal. I'm mostly interested about the case #1 though. I should like to know whether there are ANY differences in the meaning, or if it's up to me which one of them I choose. I know that there are differences in the second case, but I might have gotten it wrong and I hope you'll correct me, should some of the information above be incorrect.
Best Regards from the Czech Republic, Witiko.
Top answer
These are the meanings that come to my mind. I may/might do it. -- (i) Perhaps I will do it in the future.
- These are the meanings that come to my mind.
- I may/might do it.
- -- (i) Perhaps I will do it in the future.
- (ii) (in suitable contexts) Perhaps I do it from time to time (past, present and future).
- I might have done it.
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3 Answers
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These are the meanings that come to my mind.
I may/might do it. -- (i) Perhaps I will do it in the future. (ii) (in suitable contexts) Perhaps I do it from time to time (past, present and future).
I might have done it. -- (i) Perhaps I did it in the past. (ii) (less common) I had the capability of doing it in the past but didn't.
I may have done it.
I may/might do it. -- (i) Perhaps I will do it in the future. (ii) (in suitable contexts) Perhaps I do it from time to time (past, present and future).
I might have done it. -- (i) Perhaps I did it in the past. (ii) (less common) I had the capability of doing it in the past but didn't.
I may have done it.
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Hi, Mr Wordy
Do you no what the OP is talking about when he mentions 'subjunctive' when discussing 'might do something'?
Is this really subjunctive?
Do you no what the OP is talking about when he mentions 'subjunctive' when discussing 'might do something'?
Is this really subjunctive?
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English 1b3Do you no what the OP is talking about when he mentions 'subjunctive' when discussing 'might do something'?I'm afraid I am not certain under what circumstances "might" would be termed a subjunctive. You may want to ask in a new thread to see if you can get an answer.
Is this really subjunctive?
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