Name: ________________________________________ Class M.4/_____ No.

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Subject: English for Communication 1 Topic: Lost Opportunities
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MODALS OF LOST OPPORTUNITY

SHOULD – COULD – WOULD + PERFECT INFINITIVE

When talking about the past we use all modals with the PERFECT INFINITIVE or PERFECT
CONTINUOUS INFINITIVE

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 (PERFECT INFINITIVE) or the
‘have been + ing’ form (PERFECT CONTINUOUS INFINITIVE)
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.)
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.)

Task: Choose either ‘would have, could have, should have + past participle’ to
complete these sentences using, when necessary, the ‘ing’ form, the passive
voice or the negative form.

world have brought

1. I ______________________ (buy) the red dress if I had had enough money (it was
my intention)

could have stayed

2. I _______________________ (stay) with John and Mary, but I preferred not to
because they have got a cat and I am allergic to cats.

have told
3. You ____________________
slood world have certainly cent
(tell) me that you needed £400. I________________
(certainly/lend) you the money.

worldn'thave asked
4. I _________________________ (ask) John to come to Spain with us if I had known
that he had just lost his job.

shouldn'thave drive
5. I ______________________ (not/drive) at 120 m.p.h. I was fined £300 by the
police when they stopped me on the motorway.

6) John _________________
couldn't have stolen (steal) the money from my purse. He was at work at the
time.

should have taken

7) I _______________________ (take) my purse with me when I left the house. If I

whouldn't have been stolen

had, it _____________________ (steal) (possessive voice)

should have told

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

should have been avoided (avoid). There are three ‘danger’ warnings.
9. The accident _________________
(possessive voice)

wouldn'thave had (have) the accident.

10. If he had driven carefully, he _______________
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