SHOULD HAVE, COULD HAVE, WOULD HAVE: Explanation & Lots of Examples | Advanced English Grammar

Are you ready for some advanced English?

Hello.

This is Jack from tofluency.com and in this English lesson we are going to look at should

have, could have, and would have.

I have to say, this can be a little bit tricky.

I know a lot of learners freak out when they see should have, could have or would have.

But I'm going to explain how to use these three modal verbs and give you lots of examples.

So, let's get into it.

You probably already know how to use should for advice.

For example, you should subscribe to this channel if you want to learn English.

Another example is this: imagine that my wife is going to run a race tomorrow.

So, she has a big race early in the morning.

I tell her: you should go to bed early tonight.

You should go to bed early tonight.

So, I am giving her advice saying that's what I think she should do.

But now imagine that it's the morning.

It's 5:30 AM.

She comes downstairs.

She looks so tired.

She looks so tired because she stayed up late watching TV.

And then, I say to her: You should have gone to bed earlier.

You should have gone to bed earlier.

You shouldn't have stayed up so late watching TV.

What I am doing here is giving her advice in (for) the past.

I am saying that the action of going to bed earlier was ideal in the past.

She stayed up late the night before.

She watched TV.

But I tell her: that wasn't ideal.

You should have gone to bed earlier.

This is the advice for the past.

Here is another example: imagine that you said something terrible to one of your best

friends.

You Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

But you feel terrible.

And later, you apologize to your friend by saying: I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said

that.

I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that.

When people have a hangover, you'll hear them say: I shouldn't have drunk so much.

I shouldn't have drunk so much.

After a soccer player misses a really good class to score, you'll hear the commentator

say: he should have scored there.

He should have scored there.

And after spending too much money on a jacket you didn't need, you can say: I shouldn't

have bought that jacket.

I shouldn't have bought that jacket.

So, you can see, we use should have when we're talking about regrets, when we're giving advice

for past actions, when we talk about what would have been ideal in the past.

There are quite a few ways that we can use could have.

For example, we can use it to talk about something that we had the ability to do in the past

but we didn't do that.

For example, I could have gone to Newcastle University, but I went to Leeds instead.

So, what I'm saying here is that Newcastle University accepted me as a student, but I

decided to go to Leeds.

I could have gone Newcastle University, but I went to Leeds instead.

Look at this example for another way to use could have: imagine that my friends had a

big party.

They invited everyone.

They had lots of beer.

They had such a good time.

But they only invited me after it started.

I can call them and say: you could have invited me earlier.

You have invited me earlier.

So, I'm telling my friend, with criticism, that he had the opportunity to invite me - he

had the ability to invite me earlier, but didn't.

You could have invited me earlier.

We also use could have as a conditional.

For example, I could have got into any university in the world if I had applied.

Okay, maybe that one isn't completely true, but here is a true example: the other day,

I went shopping and when I came home, my wife went through the shopping bag and she said:

where's the cream?

Where is the cream?

And I told her: I could have picked some up if you had told me.

I could have picked some up if you had told me.

Speaking of conditionals and moving on to would have, we mainly use would have in the

3rd conditional.

Here is an example that I used in the latest To Fluency Show: If we had planted more trees,

we would have had more apples last summer.

And now, going back to that party, I can tell my friend: I would have come if you had told

me earlier.

Here are two more examples: If I had gone to Oxford University, I would have hated it.

If I had gone to Oxford University, I would have hated it.

If Messi had scored, Barcelona would have won the game.

If Messi had scored, Barcelona would have won the game.

We can also use would have like this: I would have gone to the wedding, but my son got sick.

I would have gone to the wedding, but my son got sick.

So, what I'm saying here is: I wanted to go but something happened that didn't allow me

to do this.

I would have gone, but my son got sick.

Okay, so, those are the main ways that we use should have, could have, and would have.

But let's talk a little bit about pronunciation before we practice.

In spoken English, you'll often see should have contracted to should've, would have to

would've, and could have to could've, however, you'll also see them shortened like this:

coulda, shoulda, woulda.

Coulda, shouda, woulda.

So, in spoken English, you'll hear people say things like: you should called me.

You shoulda called me.

So, you can see this is really quick.

And it gets contracted from should have to shoulda.

You shoulda called me.

In fact, there is a song by Beverly Knight called: Shoulda, coulda, woulda and I'll leave

the link to that song in the description below.

Okay, it's now time to practice and what I want you to do is to leave a comment below

using either should have, would have or could have.

Feel free to contract should have to should've and also feel free to give any example you

want.

I'll go into the comment section and correct some of the answers for you.

And before leaving a comment, please give the video a thumbs up and share it with your

friends.

Thank you for being here, again, my name is Jack from tofluency.com, and I'll see you

in the next lesson.

Bye for now!