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Fire1 Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

The meaning of "could" according to context

1. She ran off with the milkman and left her child with her husband? How could she abandon her own child?

2. She's thinking of running off with the milkman and leaving her child with her husband? How could she abandon her own child?

Q1) I think that in situation 1, "could" is used as a past tense, but in situation 1, "could" seems to imply "possibility" and I don't think in situation 2, "could" is used as a past tense. Am I right?

Q2) Is "could" in both sentences grammatically correctly used?

Thanks a lot for your help!

  

Top answer

fire1 Q2) Is "could" in both sentences grammatically correctly used? Yes. Could is present tense in both.

— AlpheccaStars

  • fire1 Q2) Is "could" in both sentences grammatically correctly used?
  • Yes.
  • Could is present tense in both.
  • It expresses a critical reaction (horror) at this situation.
  • It is relatively common in conversations.
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2 Answers
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fire1Q2) Is "could" in both sentences grammatically correctly used?

Yes.

Could is present tense in both. It expresses a critical reaction (horror) at this situation. It is relatively common in conversations.

The following is a quote from this source:

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fire1I think that in situation 1, "could" is used as a past tense

As the sentence in question is a sort of linguistic formula, I'm inclined to agree with A.S.'s view that both 1 and 2 involve 'could' in present time. From that point of view it takes How could she have abandoned her own child? to put the remark into past time.

Nev

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