could have 的疑問

Question

文法中 could have 用在可能發生但未發生的情況，

EX: The situation was bad but it could have been worse.

(情況可能更糟但未發生)

但是下面這兩種情況

EX: The trip was canclled last week. Paul couldn't have gone anyway
because he was ill.

(Paul沒有去任何地方但未發生，實際上就是說Paul有去)

EX: You did very well to pass the exam. I'm sure I couldn't have passed
it.

(我沒有通過這次考試但未發生，就是說我有通過。)


上述兩個我的中文解釋似乎與正確的文意剛好相反了，是哪裡的文法觀念有了錯誤，希望各位大大能多多指教一番，謝謝。

EX: The trip was canclled last week.－－－－
canclled 打錯應該是 canceled 抱歉。

不好意思再發問一下，Kevin大大說[couldn't have p.p.]至少有兩種不同的語意,那麼[could have p.p.]也會有這種情形嗎?

Kevin 大回答得詳細又易懂，讓小弟相當佩服，想必Kevin大花了不少心思如何讓您的說明淺顯易懂吧，Jasmine 大的回答也有另外一種見解，也很有理，各有千秋，最佳解答交由知識的鄉民們投票決定了，也謝謝 鄭登聯 大的回答。

Answer 1

版主您好:

由問題看來, 您對"假設語法"有一定程度的理解, 在下就不贅述那些基本法則了.

The trip was canclled last week. Paul couldn't have gone anyway because he was ill.
上週那趟行程取消了. (不過無所謂), 因為保羅當時生病, 所以橫豎他都沒有成行的可能.

Jasmine大大說這句並非"假設語法". 在下的意見是: [Paul couldn't have gone anyway]仍然屬於假設法, 只是含意不同.
這裡的[couldn't have p.p.]是"即使...也不可能..."
如果只是單純表示"否定的過去狀況", 這麼寫就可以了:
The trip was canclled last week. Paul couldn't go anyway because he was ill.
因為保羅當時生病, 所以橫豎他都不能成行.

If you hadn't given him the money, he couldn't have gone.
如果不是你接濟他, 他(本來)無法成行.
這裡的[couldn't have p.p.]是"本來沒有辦法..."

You did very well to pass the exam. I'm sure I couldn't have passed it.
那次考試你以高分過關. 對我來說, 肯定是門兒都沒有.
這裡的[couldn't have p.p.]也是"即使...也不可能..."

所以[couldn't have p.p.]至少有兩種不同的語意, 均屬於假設法. 因為本題這樣的表達其實都隱含了[even if(即使)]所引導的副詞子句(但常省略):
Even if the trip hadn't been canceled, Paul couldn't have gone anyway because he was ill.
Even if I had taken the exam, I'm sure I couldn't have passed it.

文法雖然重要, 但是它是用來幫助我們學習與應用的, 千萬不要讓它成為綁手綁腳的障礙.
語意的合理通順絕對是最重要的.

Answer 2

謝謝登聯大的意見，小弟獲益良多，我會找機會去書局翻翻這本大大所推薦的書，感謝。

Answer 3

But for you, I could not have passed the test.
(如果不是你，我那時候就不會已經通過考試了)
(因為有你，所以我那時候才可以通過考試)


Paul couldn't have gone to the trip.
(保羅那個時候不能夠已經去了那個旅行。)
(其實保羅那時候真的有去了旅行。)
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1.
對我來說，版主我只覺得您的第一個例句很不尋常，我想我會說：
The situation was bad but it could be worse. 用過去式could be 而非過去完成式 could have been 。
2.
我會想去掉前面的敘述句，讓句子變成：
Paul couldn't have gone anywhere because he was ill.
這種句子出現的機率不高，因為這種文意比較不會用這種句子來表達，全句是說，保羅當時不該去任何地方的(但他卻去了)，因為他生病了啊！含有懊悔，責難的語氣，說明他當時因病而不可能去任何地方，或許正因為保羅去了某個地方而且發生意外，而他的朋友才會說這句。仔細體會情境希望你懂箇中文意。
3.
I'm sure~這句文意有點問題，稍微修改一下就可以了。變成是表示謙虛的句子。你或許可以把它想成：
老師：You did very well to pass the exam.
學生：I'm sure but for your teaching I couldn't have passed it. (我非常確定，若是沒有您的教導，當時我是不會已經通過考試的，即因為有了老師的教導所以學生通過了)

2007-08-31 21:04:57 補充：
Jasmine 和 Kevin 的回答都很有理論，不過一般的情況下 could have/would have之類的表示法通常不具有假設意味 (Pratical English Usage by Michael Swan)，Kevin所述的省略(even if)結構，我想基本上沒有寫出來，就是Mood與真實情況的問題，如果真要even if的文意進來，我想它會就直接寫出來。

版主若想了解更加全盤的情況，不妨參閱上述所提的書的文法版原版。

Answer 4

My explanation on your question is:

If you say "I wish I could make it.", here "I wish I could" is a sense of expectation that maybe happen or not, not sure.

And this is why we have to use "could" rather than "can"; I believe it has mentioned in a high school English grammar program.

As the other two examples you indicated:

EX: The trip was canclled last week. Paul couldn't have gone anyway
because he was ill.

Here the "Paul couldn't have gone anyway because--" is a standard past sentence in negative way, in which the "couldn't" has no any "expectation" sense. And similar to the other example.

Hope the above explanation "could" help you some.

2007-08-30 12:11:14 補充：
Thanks for Kevin's comments. Yet, I can't concur it and still hold my opinions unchanged.