Lesson 281--Possibilities and Impossibilities

 

When we look at a situation and must make a conclusion about what happened, we can use could have/may have and might have + past participle for possibilities.  On the other hand, when we use couldn't have + past participle , we are saying that it is impossible.

examples

Julia is not here.  She might have gone home.

There are only two stores open, so she may have gone to the closest one.

Paul has a car, so he could have gone anywhere.

Check you phone because she might have tried to call you.

Gwen doesn't have keys, so she couldn't have taken the car.

Victor forgot his phone, so he couldn't have called you.

You couldn't have seen Pablo at the mall because he is on vacation in Miami.

Lesson 195--By the time.....

 

When talking about the past, we have some good phrases using by the time,

When we focus on things that happened before we got there we use past perfect.

By the time I got to the theatre, the movie had already started.

By the time I got home, everyone had gone to bed.

When we focus on some action in progress we use past continuous.

By the time I got to the party, everyone was having a good time.

By the time I arrived at school, my classmates were taking a test.

Consider the following sentences.

1. By the time I entered the cinema, the movie had already started.
2. By the time I entered the cinema the movie was already playing.

Both sentences describe the same situation.  Sentence A focuses on the action already started, while sentence B focuses on what is happening at that exact moment.