MODALS OF LOST OPPORTUNITY

SHOULD – COULD – WOULD + PAST PARTICIPLE

When talking about the past we use all modals + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE
REMEMBER:
 when referring to the present/future time we use MODAL + base form of the main verb
You should go (now or in the near future) to the doctor’s. (I advise you to do this)
 But when referring to the past time we use:
You should have gone to the doctor’s, yesterday. (it was the best thing to do in the
circumstances but you didn’t go)

Using should, would, could in the past is often used to create hypothetical scenarios.
Because modals used in the past are followed by have + past participle
they are often taught as SHOULD HAVE, WOULD HAVE, COULD HAVE + past participle.

SHOULD HAVE - It is now thought that a different action/decision was necessary at the time and
perhaps the decision/action taken in the past is now regretted.
 I should have listened to my mother when she told me not to marry John.
(but I did marry him and now I regret it. – I lost the opportunity of making a different decision)
 The Emergency Exits should have opened automatically but for some reason they didn’t and fifteen
people were killed.
 The accident was my fault. I shouldn’t have been driving so fast. (I regret it now)
 Mary shouldn’t have read the text messages John sent me.
(But she did. She made the wrong decision. It wasn’t a good idea.)

COULD HAVE - a decision/action was possible but the opportunity to make/do it wasn’t taken
 Why did you stay in a hotel? You could have stayed at Mary’s. I know she asked you to.
(you didn’t take the opportunity that you were given)
 You could have asked me before you bought those tickets. I can’t come with you on Friday.
(It was a bad idea to buy them without taking the opportunity of asking me previously)
 All the passengers could have been saved if the emergency services had arrived quicker. (the
opportunity to save lives was lost because of the late arrival of emergency services)

WOULD HAVE - If there had been the possibility/opportunity, this action/decision may have been
different. An imaginary/hypothetical scenario is being expressed.
 I would have loved to meet your mother but, unfortunately, I wasn’t in town when she visited
Stratford. (If circumstances had been different I would have enjoyed meeting her. I lost the
opportunity of meeting her because I wasn’t in town.) M’hauria encantat…..
 I wouldn’t have opened the window if I had known she had a high temperature.
(but I didn’t know, otherwise I would not have done what I did)
 I would have phoned you to let you know I would be late but there wasn’t any credit left on my
SIM card.
(the truth is I didn’t phone you. I wanted to, but I couldn’t.)
 I would have been driving up London Road exactly at the time of the explosion if I hadn’t stopped
to buy some petrol. I would have (certainly)/could have (possibly) been killed.
(I am imagining a hypothetical scenario)

Exercise on next page

Choose either ‘would have, could have, should have + past participle’ to complete
these sentences.

1) I ______________________ (buy) the red dress if I had had enough

money (it was my intention)

2) The town centre ___________________ _______ (protect) from

flooding by the new flood barriers but they were too low. (possessive voice)

3) I ___________________________________ (stay) with John and

Mary, but I preferred not to because they have got a cat and I am allergic to
cats.

4) You _________________________ (tell) me that you needed £400. I

________________ (certainly/lend) you the money.

5) I _________________________ (ask) John to come to Spain with us if

I had known that he had just lost his job.

6) I ______________________________ (not/drive) at 120 m.p.h. I was

fined £300 by the police when they stopped me on the motorway.

7a) John _________________ (steal) the money from my purse. He was at

work at the time.

7b) I _______________________ (take) my purse with me when I left the

house. If I had, it _____________________ (steal) (possessive voice)

8) I __________________ (order) the book for you when I ordered mine.

9) She ___________________ (tell) him that she was married.

10) The accident _________________ (avoid). There are three ‘danger’

warnings. (possessive voice)

11) If he had driven carefully, he _______________ (have) the accident.