How to Use the Perfect Modals | Should Have, Could Have, Would Have

Let me ask you,

how often do you think of the past and wish you had made a different

decision or regretted an outcome or simply out of

curiosity,

wondered how your life might be different today if you had made a different

choice?

It's perfectly natural for us to wonder and reflect on the past

and experience a mix of emotions in doing so when we want to

express those emotions and the thoughts we have about the past,

perfect modals are the ideal way to do just that.

Perfect modals, such as should have, could have,

and would have allow us to travel back in time.

And while the past simple allows us to talk about what happened in the past

perfect modals,

allow us to talk about the feelings and thoughts we have associated with the

past in this Confident English lesson today,

you'll learn how to use three perfect modals, should have,

could have, and would have with structural accuracy,

and you'll learn six ways to use perfect modals so that you

can express how you feel and the thoughts you have about the past in English.

But first, if you don't already know,

I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.

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Before we look at six ideal ways to use the perfect modals,

let's talk about structure.

To form a sentence with a perfect modal,

we use a regular modal verb,

such as could wood or should combine it with have

and the past participle or third form of the verb,

for example, should have gone, should have considered,

could have become, could have been,

would have decided, and would have liked.

If we want to make the sentence negative,

we simply add in the word not after the modal could not

have become, would not have liked.

Now in conversation you won't always hear, could have,

should have and would have. Instead,

you're more likely to hear the contracted form could have,

should have, would've. For example,

I should have booked the appointment for four 30 instead. Now,

not only are you likely to hear the contracted form of those words in

conversation, but you may also hear a reduction. Now,

I have a whole lesson on common reductions in English that I can share with you.

I'll leave a link to that just below this video,

but I want to pronounce for you what that would sound like with these contracted

forms. We can say could've, they contracted form, or coulda,

should've, and shoulda,

would've and woulda.

As I continue in this lesson today and share examples with you,

you are going to hear those contracted forms and now let's look at

two ways each. Perfect modal can be used and we'll start with, should have,

should have, can be used to express regret.

We all wish we could go back in time and change some

past actions or decisions.

When we want to express regret over something that we did or

said or decided in the past should have helps us do that.

Let me give you an example of how we might express regret about a past action.

Imagine you're late for work and you think to yourself,

I should have set an alarm to help me wake up on time. In that sentence,

not only are you expressing that you wish something were different in the past,

but you also have regret that it wasn't different.

We can also use should have when we want to express a regret about a past

action and apologize. For example,

if you're late to work and you're late for a meeting with your coworkers,

you might want to apologize to them when you arrive and in doing so you could

say, I'm so sorry I'm late.

I should have been more mindful of the time.

In addition to expressing regret,

should have also helps us provide feedback. For example,

let's say a manager is reviewing a report you wrote and in doing so

she recognizes there's room for improvement in giving feedback.

She might say,

overall the report looks great for a first draft.

I think you should have also included notes on trends.

Let's remember to include that in the final draft.

Now like providing feedback we can use should have to highlight a personal

error. For example,

imagine one of your coworkers makes a mistake ordering supplies

and after recognizing the mistake, your coworker says,

I should have written 50,

but I accidentally wrote 500 and now could have,

again, we'll take a look at two different ways to use could have.

The first is to express past possibility. For example,

let's say you're traveling abroad with your family and at one point you look

around and realize someone's missing,

someone got lost in the discussion of how you're going to find your

sister or your brother.

You might say she could have gone back to the restaurant,

let's go check. Of course you're not certain,

but it's a possibility.

Could have can also be used to state that someone did or did not

have an ability in the past. For example,

a nurse or a doctor might wonder how an injured person arrived

alone at the hospital and in doing so they might express

he couldn't have driven here alone.

Not only does it seem impossible,

but it doesn't seem that this injured individual had the ability to do that.

Here's one more example of stating past ability.

If you're reflecting on your adolescent years and talking about it with your son

or daughter, you might say,

I could have gone to university that year but I chose to travel instead.

In that statement, you're not expressing any regret.

You're simply stating that you had the ability to make that

decision and now let's talk about would have while should

have allows us to express guilt or regret would have

allows us to express wishes or preferences about a past

action.

Just because we wish something had been different doesn't mean we

regret that it isn't. For example,

imagine your son has the opportunity to study abroad for a year.

In talking about this with him, you might say, what a wonderful opportunity.

I would have loved to study abroad when I was your age.

Similarly,

you can use would have to express what you wanted or intended

in the past, perhaps. For example, a friend of yours asks,

why didn't you call me back?

I tried to call you several times yesterday and in response you might say,

I would've called you,

but I accidentally dropped my phone in water and now the last use on

our list today is using would have to explore hypothetical situations.

When we are exploring the hypothetical we pair would haveve

with a conditional structure. For example,

maybe one of your friends shows you an article about someone who won the lottery

and bought a new car. In response, you might remark,

if I had won a million dollars,

I would've bought a giant house or I would've gone on a vacation around the

world. Let's take a look at one more example.

Perhaps you're planning to have friends over for dinner and unexpectedly your

spouse invites a few more friends over that you didn't expect.

If you didn't make enough food for everyone,

you might say to your spouse or your partner,

I would've made more food if I'd known they were coming.

Now that you have these six uses for perfect modals with

should have, could have and would have, let's practice.

I have three questions for you and with each one I want you to think about how

you would use one of those perfect modals and consider the

structure of your sentence. Number one,

what should you have done Yesterday?

Perhaps there was something on your to-do list,

but you really didn't want to do it so you procrastinated and

procrastinated and procrastinated,

but today you have that guilty regretful feeling.

I should have done that yesterday. Question two,

I want you to think back to about 10 years ago and in

reflecting on that time,

what is something you could have done at that time but chose not

to? And number three, think about the last week or two.

Is there anything you would have done but you ran out of

time? If you'd had more time, you would've done it.

As always,

the best place to share your examples with me or any comments and

questions you have is in the comments section just below this video.

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Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next time.