3. A: Did you vote in the last election? I know you’re a U.S. citizen now. B: I forgot about it. But I really don’t like what some politicians are doing now. A: Then you should
. You’re giving me your opinion now. You should your opinion on election day, too.
4. A: I gave a long speech in my English class, and everyone started to yawn. I should it. B: You’re right. It’s best to shorten a speech as much as possible. A: You should
me. You’re good at giving speeches.
B: I didn’t have time to help you. I had to prepare my own speech. 5. A: Slavery was a terrible thing. Farmers shouldn’t
slaves to do their work.
B: I agree. It’s an awful thing to use people that way. A: They should
workers to do the work.
B: They didn’t want to pay workers. They wanted to make a lot of money for themselves.
ABOUT YOU Think of any regrets you have had about the following topics. Write your regret and what you now believe you should have done. Share your answers with your class. Example: (a classmate) I told my classmate that her essay was terrible. I should’ve told her something nice about it and given her advice to make it better. 1. (a friend or family member) 2. (a goal you had) 3. (money)
6.3 Past Possibility—May / Might / Could + Have EXAMPLES
EXPLANATION
Why didn’t the audience react after Lincoln’s speech?
We use may/might/could + have + the past participle to express a possibility about the past. It is not used to say something that was known to be true.
They could have been surprised. They may have expected him to speak more. They might have thought that he wasn't finished. Everett’s speech may not have been very interesting. Lincoln might not have realized how good his speech was.
To show negative possibility, we use may not have and might not have. We don’t use could not have because it has a different meaning. (See Chart 6.7) Modals in the Past
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