6.8 Modals in the Past: Continuous Forms

4. (Were you able to/Could you) vote in the last election?

5. My mother has been a U.S. citizen for the last five years. She (could vote/could have voted) in the last

election, but she’s not interested in politics.

6. Around the time of the 2008 election in the United States, many people (were able to use/could have used)

social media to get information.

7. You say President Kennedy was killed in a plane crash in 1999. That (couldn’t happen/

couldn’t have happened). He was assassinated in 1963. You’re probably thinking of his son.

8. John McCain (couldn’t/wasn’t able to) use social media in 2008.

9. I (couldn’t/wasn’t able to) vote in the last election because I was out of the country.

10. My mother uses social media now. But she (couldn’t use/couldn’t have used) it five years ago. I had to

show her how.

11. Lincoln (could be/could have been) a farmer like his father, but he was more interested in politics.

12. Lincoln’s father (couldn’t read/couldn’t have read).

13. Lincoln (was able to teach/could have taught) himself law.

EXAMPLE John Wilkes Booth must have been planning the assassination of Lincoln for a long time.

EXPLANATION To give a continuous meaning to a past modal, we use modal + have been + the present participle.

EXERCISE 11 Fill in the blanks with one of the verbs from the box. Use the continuous form.

have plan protect think use watch

1. Farmers shouldn’t have been using people as slaves.

2. What was Lincoln thinking after his speech? He might the audience reaction.

3. Lincoln must

4. Booth must doubts about his speech.

the assassination for months.

5. Booth might Lincoln for a long time.

6. Lincoln didn’t have good protection. Someone should about

him better.