Auxiliaires de modalité & Perfects en anglais : grammaire anglaise / définition
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Auxiliaires de modalité & Perfects
La construction de type Auxiliaire de modalité + Have + Participe Passé (soit Aux. de modalité + Perfect) permet de parler rétrospectivement d'une action passée et révolue :
It must have been hot last summer. Il a dû faire chaud l'été dernier.
He could not have murdered her, since he was in Chicago. Il n'a pas pu l'assassiner, puisqu'il était à Chicago.
They may have crossed the border by now. Ils ont probablement passé la frontière à l'heure qu'il est.
You might have missed a very good opportunity. Tu as peut-être manqué une très belle opportunité.
She needn't have cleaned the entire house. Ce n'était pas la peine qu'elle nettoie toute la maison.
Exercice 1
Bruno: Hey, Bob. Did you remember to call your mother yesterday?
Bob: Yeah, I did. But I think I her a little. She really hates that convalescent home for seniors.
Bruno: Oh. Think of it this way, Bob: you to live with her at your place.
Bob: Yeah, I did. But I think I her a little. She really hates that convalescent home for seniors.
Bruno: Oh. Think of it this way, Bob: you to live with her at your place.
Bruno: Hey, Bob. Did you remember to call your mother yesterday?
Bob: Yeah, I did. But I think I may have irritated 1 her a little. She really hates that convalescent home for seniors.
Bruno: Oh. Think of it this way, Bob: you could have had 2 to live with her at your place.
Bob: Yeah, I did. But I think I may have irritated 1 her a little. She really hates that convalescent home for seniors.
Bruno: Oh. Think of it this way, Bob: you could have had 2 to live with her at your place.
1 may have irritated: 'May have irritated' is the correct construction here. Bob is speaking retrospectively of a past event (Bob's call to his mother) using a conditional construction. When using any auxiliary with a perfect tense (must, should, will, could, would), we follow with 'have' + the past participle (the present perfect form).
1 may irritated: The preterit 'irritated' cannot directly follow the auxiliary 'may'. We must use an auxiliary in between the two words, such as 'have'. We could also use 'irritate' conjugated in the present tense form (may irritate), but not to refer to a past event.
1 may irritate: We cannot use the present tense 'irritate' in this case because Bob is speaking of a past action, signalled by the word 'yesterday' and the past tense verb 'did'.
1 may irritating: The gerund 'irritating' cannot directly follow the auxiliary 'may'. An auxiliary such as 'may' is always followed by a conjugated verb (usually present perfect or present tense form).
2 could have had: 'Could have had' is the correct construction here. Bruno is speaking retrospectively of a past event using a conditional construction. When using any auxiliary with a perfect tense (must, should, will, could, would), we follow with 'have' + the past participle (the present perfect form).
2 could had: The preterit verb 'had' cannot directly follow the auxiliary 'could'. We must use an auxiliary in between the two words for the phrase to be correct. We could say: 'I could have had a good time, but I went to bed early'.
2 could having: The gerund 'having' cannot directly follow the auxiliary 'could'. An auxiliary such as 'could' is always followed by a conjugated verb (usually present perfect or present tense form).
2 could have have: 'Could have have' is not a valid grammatical construction. We cannot use 'have' twice in succession like this.
Exercice 2
Polly: You're barely wearing any clothes. You cold. Do you want a sweater?
Susie: But your outfits are so masculine and tasteless.
Polly: You know, you 'no thank you'.
Susie: But your outfits are so masculine and tasteless.
Polly: You know, you 'no thank you'.
Polly: You're barely wearing any clothes. You must be 1 cold. Do you want a sweater?
Susie: But your outfits are so masculine and tasteless.
Polly: You know, you could have just said 2 'no thank you'.
Susie: But your outfits are so masculine and tasteless.
Polly: You know, you could have just said 2 'no thank you'.
1 must be: Because Polly is speaking of the present, we use 'must be' here.
1 must have been: Because Polly is not speaking about the past we cannot use 'must have been'.
2 could have just said: 'Could have just said' is the appropriate construction in this case. Polly is speaking of the comment previously made by Susie, so we must use the past perfect (have said).
2 can have just said: 'Can', which is in the present tense, cannot be used with 'have said', which is the past perfect.
2 can just said: 'Can just said' is grammatically incorrect and it does not make sense.
Exercice 3
Fill in the blanks below with the appropriate form of the verb
Susie: I to the movies three times already this week.
Polly: Why didn't you tell me? I could with you.
Susie: I'm not sure if you would any of them. They were all independent foreign films.
Polly: Look Susie, just because I'm not from Europe doesn't mean I'm uncultured. As a matter of fact, I to the theater just yesterday.
Susie: What did you see?
Polly: 'Revenge of the attack-' uhm, I'd rather not say. Bye Susie.
Susie: I to the movies three times already this week.
Polly: Why didn't you tell me? I could with you.
Susie: I'm not sure if you would any of them. They were all independent foreign films.
Polly: Look Susie, just because I'm not from Europe doesn't mean I'm uncultured. As a matter of fact, I to the theater just yesterday.
Susie: What did you see?
Polly: 'Revenge of the attack-' uhm, I'd rather not say. Bye Susie.
Fill in the blanks below with the appropriate form of the verb
Susie: I [not done] have been 1 to the movies three times already this week.
Polly: Why didn't you tell me? I could [not done] have gone 2 with you.
Susie: I'm not sure if you would [not done] have understood 3 any of them. They were all independent foreign films.
Polly: Look Susie, just because I'm not from Europe doesn't mean I'm uncultured. As a matter of fact, I [not done] went 4 to the theater just yesterday.
Susie: What did you see?
Polly: 'Revenge of the attack-' uhm, I'd rather not say. Bye Susie.
Susie: I [not done] have been 1 to the movies three times already this week.
Polly: Why didn't you tell me? I could [not done] have gone 2 with you.
Susie: I'm not sure if you would [not done] have understood 3 any of them. They were all independent foreign films.
Polly: Look Susie, just because I'm not from Europe doesn't mean I'm uncultured. As a matter of fact, I [not done] went 4 to the theater just yesterday.
Susie: What did you see?
Polly: 'Revenge of the attack-' uhm, I'd rather not say. Bye Susie.
1 have been: We use the present perfect tense to describe an event which happened at an unspecified time in the past. Using the present perfect in this sentence emphasizes the fact that Susie went to the movies, rather than WHEN she went. We often use the present perfect to speak of an experience which occurred sometime in the past (I have been to Rome, I have seen that movie before, etc). The present perfect tense is constructed with 'has/have' + past participle. Note that using anything other than the present perfect tense here is grammatically incorrect.
2 have gone: This construction uses the present perfect form of the verb 'to go' after the auxiliary 'could', which forms the conditional perfect tense. When using any auxiliary with a perfect tense (must, should, will, could, would), we follow with 'have' + the past participle. Example: You shouldn't have done that. 'I could have gone with you' indicates Polly's desire or willingness to go to the movies with Susie.
3 have understood: This construction uses the present perfect form of the verb 'to understand' after the auxiliary 'would'. When using any auxiliary with a perfect tense (must, should, will, could, would), we follow with 'have' + the past participle of the main verb. Example: You shouldn't have done that. 'I'm not sure you would have understood' indicates that Susie doubts Polly's ability to understand the movies which she saw during the week.
4 went: To describe the completed action of going to the theater 'yesterday', we use the simple past tense form of the verb 'to go' here. Using the simple past tense places the emphasis of this sentence on WHEN Polly went to the theater, rather than the fact that she went to the theater. The verb 'to go' is irregular: go/went/gone.
Exercice 4
Fill in the blanks below with the appropriate form of the verb.
She wouldn't this far if she didn't speak fluent Spanish.
You must a mistake, there's no one here by that name.
I didn't understand exactly what you wanted me to do, otherwise I would it.
She wouldn't this far if she didn't speak fluent Spanish.
You must a mistake, there's no one here by that name.
I didn't understand exactly what you wanted me to do, otherwise I would it.
Fill in the blanks below with the appropriate form of the verb.
She wouldn't [not done] have gotten 1 this far if she didn't speak fluent Spanish.
You must [not done] have made 2 a mistake, there's no one here by that name.
I didn't understand exactly what you wanted me to do, otherwise I would [not done] have done 3 it.
She wouldn't [not done] have gotten 1 this far if she didn't speak fluent Spanish.
You must [not done] have made 2 a mistake, there's no one here by that name.
I didn't understand exactly what you wanted me to do, otherwise I would [not done] have done 3 it.
1 have gotten: This construction uses the present perfect form of the verb 'to get' following the auxiliary 'would', which forms the conditional perfect tense. When using any auxiliary with a perfect tense (must, should, will, could, would), we follow with 'have' + the past participle. Example: You shouldn't have done that. 'She wouldn't have got this far...' is a conditional statement which indicates that as a result of a girl's ability to speak Spanish, she was able to progress. Note that both 'have got' (UK) and 'have gotten' (US) are appropriate here.
2 have made: This construction uses the present perfect form of the verb 'to make' after the auxiliary 'must'. When using any auxiliary with a perfect tense (must, should, will, could, would), we follow with 'have' + the past participle of the main verb. Example: You shouldn't have done that. 'You must have made a mistake' indicates near certainty that someone has made a mistake sometime in the past.
3 have done: This construction uses the present perfect form of the verb 'to do' after the auxiliary 'would', which forms the conditional perfect tense. When using any auxiliary with a perfect tense (must, should, will, could, would), we follow with 'have' + the past participle of the main verb. Example: You shouldn't have done that. '...I would have done it' indicates the speaker's willingness to follow instructions which he was given in the past.
Exercice 5
Hmm… I wonder why Jean wasn’t at our department meeting yesterday. He too sick to come. He does look a little pale today. I suppose I called him to ask him. I really learn to communicate with people without feeling so nervous!
Hmm… I wonder why Jean wasn’t at our department meeting yesterday. He must have been 1 too sick to come. He does look a little pale today. I suppose I could have 2 called him to ask him. I really must 3 learn to communicate with people without feeling so nervous!
1 must have been: The speaker says that Jean "must have been too sick to come", implying that the only possible explanation is that Jean was too sick to come to the meeting yesterday. We use a modal verb such as "must" followed by the perfect tense ("have been") to speak retrospectively about the past. Another example: "I can't believe I made such an obvious mistake. I must have been very tired".
1 must be: The speaker is giving an explanation for why Jean was absent yesterday. "He must be too sick to come" is a statement about the present, not the past. Example: "I can't believe that Helen isn't here! She never misses badminton club! She must be sick". We know that Jean is now back in the office because the speaker can see that he looks "a little pale".
1 should have been: If the speaker said "he should have been sick", this would imply that Jean was not sick yesterday, but that he had an obligation to be sick. This does not make sense in the context. Example: "I told you that you can't eat raw lentils, but you ate them anyway. You should have listened to me".
2 could have: "I could have called him" implies that the speaker did not call Jean yesterday, but that calling him was a possibility or a good idea. Another example: "Why did you choose a new car without me? You could have called me at work, you know!" (=It was possible for you to call me at work).
2 could: "I could called" is grammatically incorrect. We could say "I could call him". However, this is unlikely in this context, because the speaker is referring to actions that were possible yesterday, not now.
2 would have: "I would have called him" is in the conditional perfect tense. We generally use this tense alongside a condition introduced by the word "if". For example: "I would have called you if my phone hadn't run out of battery". Using "would have" doesn't make sense if we don't specify the condition.
3 must: "I must learn to communicate" means "It is important that I learn to communicate" (in the future). Modal verbs such as must, can or may are followed by an infinitive verb without "to". Example: "She can talk for hours without stopping".
3 must have: "I must have learn" is grammatically incorrect. "Must have" is always followed by the past participle of the verb: "learned". Example: "I never taught Tommy how to cook. He must have learned in his spare time" (The only possible conclusion is that he learned in his spare time).
3 will have: "I will have learn" is grammatically incorrect. "Will have" is always followed by the past participle of the verb: "learned", forming the future perfect tense. Example: "I will have learned all my lines for the play by tomorrow night".
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