the doctor recommended/suggested/advised that he does exercise (regularly) - if it's present ("haga") Įx: The doctor recommended/suggested (me/to me) that he should do exerciseģ/ Subject + verb + that + someone-subject + BASE VERBĮx: The doctor recommended/suggested/advised that he DO exercise (whether it's present -regulary) or past (those months)) Or CAN this pattern be used for "to recommend" but not for "to suggest"?Ģ/ Subject + verb + (someone or to someone)? + that +. Or "He was recommended/suggested by the doctor to do exercise" must be used instead?) Is this structure RIGHT or should a passive be used instead? Some books say it is not!Įx: The doctor recommended/suggested him to do exercise (right I will list down only those patterns on which different book texts don't agree (so I am not sure whether they are right or not):ġ/ Subject + verb + someone-object + to infinitive I have a doubt about the different verb patterns used for the verbs "to recommend", "to suggest" and "to advise" as, depending on the source consulted, some patterns are accepted and some are not. I could also say 'A worker must have broken the window' if I feel more certain about that. Like before, I don't know, but because there is no sign of what happened, I'm clearly making a guess. Here I might say 'A worker could have broken the window by accident'.
Returning to the example of the broken window in the kitchen, imagine that there is no stone on the floor, nor any other indication of what happened, but the window is right next to a construction site. 'could have' shows that we are not certain perhaps we are making a guess, or perhaps we are stating a possibility someone else hasn't thought of - it really depends on the context.
Unless there's some recording of this from a security camera or unless someone witnessed it, I can't really know completely for sure, but it seems pretty likely. I did not witness this, but I can infer that this is what happened. For example, if I go into my kitchen and see a broken window and a stone on the floor, I might say 'Someone must have thrown a stone at the window'. We use both 'must have' and 'could have' when we don't have direct knowledge of something.Īs you say, 'must have' shows we are more certain often, it means we are quite certain because nothing else makes any sense or because our idea seems very likely. Matching_MTYzNjk= can and could: other uses 2īook traversal links for 'can' and 'could' GapFillTyping_MTYzNjg= can and could: other uses 1 Matching_MTYzNjc= can and could: possibility 2 The negative form of could is couldn't in spoken English and could not in written English. We sometimes say cannot, but it is very emphatic. The negative form is can't in spoken English and cannot in written English. We make questions by putting the subject after can/ could: Can I. We use could you … as a polite way of telling or asking someone to do something: We use can't to refuse permission or say that someone does not have permission: We use can to say that someone has permission to do something: We use can to ask for permission to do something:Ĭould is more formal and polite than can: She could have learned Swahili, but she didn't want to. We use could have to say that someone had the ability or opportunity to do something, but did not do it: We use could and couldn't to talk about the past: We use can and can't to talk about the ability to do something at a specific time in the present or future: We use can and can't to talk about someone's skill or general abilities: If Jones was at work until six, he couldn't have done the murder. We use can't have or couldn't have to say that a past event was impossible: (= It was sometimes very cold there in winter.) We use could to make general statements about the past: Where are they? They could have got lost. We use could have to make guesses about the past:
We use can't or cannot to say that something is impossible: (= It is sometimes very cold here in winter.) We use can to make general statements about what is possible: We use could to show that something is possible, but not certain: Level: beginner Possibility and impossibility