Could have, would have, should have - modals of lost opportunity

Today we're going to talk about things you may feel sorry about.

Have you ever done something in your life that you wish you didn't do, or you wish you

could have done again, or you would have done it if you had known more?

Today we're going to talk about it. Models of lost possibility. I know you do models

of possibility. Could, would, and should, right? Got it right here. So why don't we

go to lost opportunity? Because in life we do miss out on things, and in English we use

these a lot. In fact, there's an old idiom that goes like this. Coulda, woulda, shoulda,

didn't. We use it a lot to tell you that you've missed out, you've messed up, or you've screwed

up. I want to go to the board and teach you how to use these effectively. Now when we

use could, in English could actually means... It's related to can. Can is able, has the

ability to, or highly possible something will happen. We use could to say something is possible.

Now, would, we talk about in the imaginary form. Would. Would is imaginary. If I did

this, it would be nice. But we also use it as the past of will. You have will, and then

you say would. I would, right? We talk about being imaginary, or the past of the future,

past of will, which is the future term. And finally we have should. Should is the best

or right thing to do. Let's give examples of each sentence. What you're thinking about

is when I talk about possibilities, all of these are possibilities. So I could help you

tomorrow if I don't have a lot of work, which meaning it's possible to help you, but it's

not a guarantee. 70% accurate it's going to happen. Would. Now I did a video before. You

should check it out. It's would for polite usage. But we also could say would as sort

of a suggested possibility. I would love to help you. I just have to check on my schedule.

So it's a kind of a possibility we're talking about, yeah? And should. I should help you

because you really need the help. I think it would be the best or right thing to do.

Now what happens if you're in a situation where you could have done something, you would

have done something, and you should have done something? Notice there's something in common

with all these. By themselves we have would, could, and should. And they denote, sorry,

denote. They give, they give the idea of possible. What is possible in the present? But actually

that's not even true. We say possible in the present. But it's not true. What we really

mean is possible in the future. So you're saying that you could, would, or should do

something that you're not doing it right now, but you will be doing it either almost immediately

or sometimes shortly in the future. I could help you, meaning I'm not helping you now,

but it is possible to do so shortly or in the long term. I would help you, usually if

you hear someone say I would, they're probably going to make an excuse not to, because would

means imagine, like I can imagine doing this, but I'm not actually doing it. I would help

you if I liked you, but I don't, so I won't, okay? And should, I should help you because

you need it, meaning I'm not doing it now, but I believe it's the best or right thing

to do. So we're talking about possible future, okay? Now, notice how I said possible future,

because models really do talk about the future. We can express it with politeness, we can

express it for opportunity, but really it's possible futures and how we interpret those

futures, right? Modes of future, basically. Now what happens if, okay, now we're in the

future. I look, we're in the future, but I didn't do these things I wanted to do. I

said help you. Now we're going to go over to this list. Notice, it's like the snake

is crying. See, Mr. E is going coulda, woulda, shoulda, didn't. What was possible in the

future, it is now the past. If you know anything about the present perfect, I usually say perfects

out of the present, the future, and past perfect. The perfect means a connection to the past.

I've always used this because, in this case, when we add have to the basis of models, they

become the past. They bring in this connection to the past. So what was possible in the future,

this opportunity is now gone because it is in the past, right? So let's look. Could,

we said equals possible. Could have was, was possible, right? I could have helped you on

Tuesday, but I'm sorry, it's Thursday. Don't have the time now. Could have. What was possible

on Thursday is now past. Have means connection to past, right? So let's put that down. So

whenever you look at the perfects, like present, past, or future perfects, think of connection

to the past. Okay? That perfect is have. Cool, no? You just learned about perfects and lost

opportunity. I do try. Okay, so let's continue. Okay, so I could have helped you. It was possible.

It's no longer possible. What about would have? Well, remember I said imaginary. When

I would have thought about it, I would have, I imagined being able to do it, but now I

cannot see it's still possible. So I imagine, we're going to go from imaginary to imagine.

Imagine it was possible. Give me a second, I'll let you look. See? I imagined it was

possible at that time. No longer. Okay? Now, should have. Well, should have was... See,

I'm talking to myself. It's like crazy. Okay, when we talk about this one, we're saying

to you. Big line here, so make sure you know it's not a word. It's right or best. Okay?

Should have was at the time I thought it was the best or right thing to do at the time.

This time is gone, so maybe you should have done it, but now you must do something else.

Okay? That's when we use models of necessity like must or have to or need to. Go check

out the other video. We have another video of must, have to, or need to. Models of necessity.

All right? So, cool lesson. Hope you got everything you needed from it. We talked about possibility

with could, would, or should, and here are what they are. Could is possible. Would is

imaginary. Okay? Or the past or future, in case you don't know. Past, you know, past

or will. The grammar heads out there. And should is the best or right thing to do. Okay?

When we add on the perfect with its connection to the past, we actually change it and say

your opportunity is gone now. It was possible, no longer possible. I could have imagined

it. I can't imagine it now. Notice these are all past words, and at the time I thought

it was right and best, but it is no longer that time. Things have changed. All right?

So I don't want you to lose any more opportunities because you could have studied somewhere else,

but you were smart. You studied here. Now you should. Notice, still possible, but the

best and right thing to do is go to engVid, which is www.eng as in English, vid as in

video, dot com, where you can do the tests and learn other English languages. Don't lose

out on this opportunity, okay? Because not only could you do it, you can do it. I would

do it if I were you, and I think you should do it because it's the best thing you can

do for yourself and your English skills and your country.

Do it for your country. Yeah.

Bye. EngVid.