Construction: MODAL + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE
OF VERB
|
Modal
Structure: |
Used
for: |
Examples: |
|
should have |
past advice (criticisms) and
regrets |
"I failed my grammar test! I
guess I should have studied more." |
|
ought to have |
|
"Yes, you ought to have
reviewed your perfect modals before the test." |
|
must have |
past logical conclusions (assumptions about the past) |
"The mountain climbers were
trapped on the mountain for 2 weeks." "Really? They must have
been very hungry when they finally made it back." |
|
should have |
past expectations (which are NOT
realized) |
Yesterday, it should have
rained according to the radio, but it didn't. |
|
may have |
past possibilities |
They had the same answers on their
grammar exam, so I think they may have cheated. |
|
might have |
|
Officially, Elvis died of a heart
attack, but actually he might have died because of a drug overdose. |
|
could have |
|
Why did you rent that movie? You could have watched it on TV
last night. |
THE
CONTINUOUS MODALS
The three commonly used continuous
modals are:
-may
be + present participle ( V+ing )
-might
be + present participle ( V+ing )
-could
be + present participle ( V+ing )
These are generally interchangeable,
and they are used to indicate the possibility that something is occuring at
the moment.
Ex.: "Hurry up and get off the phone. The company I want to work for said they would call today to tell
me if I get the job - they might be trying to reach me right now!"