Tuesday, October 20, 2015

modal verbs - Ambiguity of "might have/could have"


The following is taken from PEU1 339.8:



May/might have ... can sometimes refer to the present or future.



#1 I'll try phoning him, but he may have gone out by now.


#2 By the end of this year I might have saved some money.



For #2, I think it would create ambiguity without context:


It could refer to my expectation that I am likely to have saved some money by the end of this year. I think this is what it's intended to mean here.


But it could also stand for a hypothetical situation where it would have been possible for me to save some money by the end of this year if I hadn't spent a lot on my new Audi.


Is my understanding correct?


If my understanding is correct, then is it possible to substitute could have for might have with meaning unchanged?



#3 By the end of this year I could have saved some money.




Is #3 also ambiguous without context? It could refer to an attainable expectation or a possibilty that will not be able to come true.


Or, to put it another way, can could have be used to express factual possibility without time restraints just like might/may have in #1 and #2, both meaning "by the end of this year I will possibly have saved some money."?


1. PEU = Michael Swan's, Practical English Usage.




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