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  • Are you ready for some advanced English?

  • Hello.

  • This is Jack from tofluency.com and in this English lesson we are going to look at should

  • have, could have, and would have.

  • I have to say, this can be a little bit tricky.

  • I know a lot of learners freak out when they see should have, could have or would have.

  • But I'm going to explain how to use these three modal verbs and give you lots of examples.

  • So, let's get into it.

  • You probably already know how to use should for advice.

  • For example, you should subscribe to this channel if you want to learn English.

  • Another example is this: imagine that my wife is going to run a race tomorrow.

  • So, she has a big race early in the morning.

  • I tell her: you should go to bed early tonight.

  • You should go to bed early tonight.

  • So, I am giving her advice saying that's what I think she should do.

  • But now imagine that it's the morning.

  • It's 5:30 AM.

  • She comes downstairs.

  • She looks so tired.

  • She looks so tired because she stayed up late watching TV.

  • And then, I say to her: You should have gone to bed earlier.

  • You should have gone to bed earlier.

  • You shouldn't have stayed up so late watching TV.

  • What I am doing here is giving her advice in (for) the past.

  • I am saying that the action of going to bed earlier was ideal in the past.

  • She stayed up late the night before.

  • She watched TV.

  • But I tell her: that wasn't ideal.

  • You should have gone to bed earlier.

  • This is the advice for the past.

  • Here is another example: imagine that you said something terrible to one of your best

  • friends.

  • You Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

  • But you feel terrible.

  • And later, you apologize to your friend by saying: I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said

  • that.

  • I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that.

  • When people have a hangover, you'll hear them say: I shouldn't have drunk so much.

  • I shouldn't have drunk so much.

  • After a soccer player misses a really good class to score, you'll hear the commentator

  • say: he should have scored there.

  • He should have scored there.

  • And after spending too much money on a jacket you didn't need, you can say: I shouldn't

  • have bought that jacket.

  • I shouldn't have bought that jacket.

  • So, you can see, we use should have when we're talking about regrets, when we're giving advice

  • for past actions, when we talk about what would have been ideal in the past.

  • There are quite a few ways that we can use could have.

  • For example, we can use it to talk about something that we had the ability to do in the past

  • but we didn't do that.

  • For example, I could have gone to Newcastle University, but I went to Leeds instead.

  • So, what I'm saying here is that Newcastle University accepted me as a student, but I

  • decided to go to Leeds.

  • I could have gone Newcastle University, but I went to Leeds instead.

  • Look at this example for another way to use could have: imagine that my friends had a

  • big party.

  • They invited everyone.

  • They had lots of beer.

  • They had such a good time.

  • But they only invited me after it started.

  • I can call them and say: you could have invited me earlier.

  • You have invited me earlier.

  • So, I'm telling my friend, with criticism, that he had the opportunity to invite me - he

  • had the ability to invite me earlier, but didn't.

  • You could have invited me earlier.

  • We also use could have as a conditional.

  • For example, I could have got into any university in the world if I had applied.

  • Okay, maybe that one isn't completely true, but here is a true example: the other day,

  • I went shopping and when I came home, my wife went through the shopping bag and she said:

  • where's the cream?

  • Where is the cream?

  • And I told her: I could have picked some up if you had told me.

  • I could have picked some up if you had told me.

  • Speaking of conditionals and moving on to would have, we mainly use would have in the

  • 3rd conditional.

  • Here is an example that I used in the latest To Fluency Show: If we had planted more trees,

  • we would have had more apples last summer.

  • And now, going back to that party, I can tell my friend: I would have come if you had told

  • me earlier.

  • Here are two more examples: If I had gone to Oxford University, I would have hated it.

  • If I had gone to Oxford University, I would have hated it.

  • If Messi had scored, Barcelona would have won the game.

  • If Messi had scored, Barcelona would have won the game.

  • We can also use would have like this: I would have gone to the wedding, but my son got sick.

  • I would have gone to the wedding, but my son got sick.

  • So, what I'm saying here is: I wanted to go but something happened that didn't allow me

  • to do this.

  • I would have gone, but my son got sick.

  • Okay, so, those are the main ways that we use should have, could have, and would have.

  • But let's talk a little bit about pronunciation before we practice.

  • In spoken English, you'll often see should have contracted to should've, would have to

  • would've, and could have to could've, however, you'll also see them shortened like this:

  • coulda, shoulda, woulda.

  • Coulda, shouda, woulda.

  • So, in spoken English, you'll hear people say things like: you should called me.

  • You shoulda called me.

  • So, you can see this is really quick.

  • And it gets contracted from should have to shoulda.

  • You shoulda called me.

  • In fact, there is a song by Beverly Knight called: Shoulda, coulda, woulda and I'll leave

  • the link to that song in the description below.

  • Okay, it's now time to practice and what I want you to do is to leave a comment below

  • using either should have, would have or could have.

  • Feel free to contract should have to should've and also feel free to give any example you

  • want.

  • I'll go into the comment section and correct some of the answers for you.

  • And before leaving a comment, please give the video a thumbs up and share it with your

  • friends.

  • Thank you for being here, again, my name is Jack from tofluency.com, and I'll see you

  • in the next lesson.

  • Bye for now!

Are you ready for some advanced English?

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