{"id":8199,"date":"2021-09-09T15:21:14","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T19:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=8199"},"modified":"2021-09-09T15:21:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T19:21:55","slug":"coulda-shoulda-woulda-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/coulda-shoulda-woulda-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Coulda\/Shoulda\/Woulda"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8200\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8200\" class=\"size-large wp-image-8200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-350x234.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8200\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/robinhiggins-1321953\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3082831\">Robin Higgins<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3082831\">Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>There are three common English verbs that everyone knows but many misuse: could, should, and would. All three verbs are in the past tense. All three are <strong>modal verbs<\/strong>. And all three, being past tense, are commonly paired with the <strong>auxiliary verb<\/strong> <em>have<\/em> \u2013 usually as a contraction. But they will mess you up.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Could<\/strong> is the past tense of the verb <strong>can<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201c<em>Can<\/em> you do this?\u201d \u201cI <em>could<\/em> if I had the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Should<\/strong> is the past tense of <strong>shall<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cI <em>shall<\/em> get to work on this right away.\u201d \u201cI <em>should<\/em> have waited until I had all the instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Would<\/strong> is the past tense of <strong>will<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201c<em>Will<\/em> you do this for me?\u201d \u201cI <em>would<\/em> have been happy to do that for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They also have their roots in Old English. Could was <em>cunnan<\/em>, the Old English word for know, or certainty. Should was <em>sceolde<\/em>, the past tense of shall be. And would was <em>wolde<\/em>, the past tense of <em>wyllan<\/em>, which became the modern English word will.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Modal Verbs<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Modal verbs express a conditional meaning to the main verb. They are used to connote:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Possibility<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You could call me tonight if you get the chance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Permission<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Should I leave?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Speculation<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Would you happen to know what the password is?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Politeness<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Could you close the door on your way out?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Prohibition (with a negative)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You shouldn\u2019t ask a person about their age.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The problem that learners and even native speakers often encounter, is a failure to recognize the difference between the three words. Consider the sentence, \u201cYou could call me tonight if you get the chance.\u201d Substituting <em>should<\/em> for <em>could<\/em> turns the sentence into a command: \u201cYou should call me tonight if you get the chance.\u201d If you stop to think of the present tense of the verb \u2013 can, shall, or would \u2013 you are more likely to avoid this mistake.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>The Problem with Have<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>When it follows the modal verb, the main verb <u>must<\/u> take the past participle form.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You could have <em>warned<\/em> me that your sister was coming to visit.<\/li>\n<li>You should have <em>closed<\/em> the windows if you knew that it was going to rain.<\/li>\n<li>I would have <em>liked<\/em> to have seen that movie last night.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When used together, these modal verbs and this auxiliary verb are often formed into conjunctions \u2013 could\u2019ve, should\u2019ve, and would\u2019ve. And here we arrive at not one, but two of the most common mistakes made in English.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, when we speak English, we fail to enunciate clearly. The difference between <em>could\u2019ve<\/em> and <em>could of<\/em> may seem obvious when written, but not in verbal communication. Therefore, many English speakers, including many native speakers, believe that the phrases <em>could of<\/em>, <em>should of<\/em>, and <em>would of<\/em> are proper. Let me assure you, although I see and hear this almost every day, they are not!<\/p>\n<p>This also happens when the negative form of the modal verb is used.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I couldn\u2019t have been prouder of my niece than I was last night at the awards ceremony.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><u>Not<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I couldn\u2019t of been prouder of my niece than I was last night at the awards ceremony.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Then, as if that wasn\u2019t enough of a problem, certain areas of the United States speak so quickly, and with such a strong accent, that the result is a common mispronunciation of the conjunctions as coulda, shoulda, woulda. This has now become a famous idiom that expresses regret. \u201cI could have done it, I should have done it, and if I knew then what I know now, I would have done it.\u201d Or, abbreviated, we simply say, \u201cCoulda, shoulda, woulda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I Coulda Been a Contender - On the Waterfront (6\/8) Movie CLIP (1954) HD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uBiewQrpBBA?start=40&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"234\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-350x234.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-350x234.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/09\/Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>There are three common English verbs that everyone knows but many misuse: could, should, and would. All three verbs are in the past tense. All three are modal verbs. And all three, being past tense, are commonly paired with the auxiliary verb have \u2013 usually as a contraction. But they will mess you up. Could&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/coulda-shoulda-woulda-2\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":8200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[134956,135139],"tags":[554102,333537,80400],"class_list":["post-8199","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-grammar","category-english-language","tag-auxiliary-verbs","tag-english-grammar-2","tag-modal-verbs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8199"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8208,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions\/8208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}