[General] I could go there

Status
Not open for further replies.

suniljain

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
I could go there.

Does this sentence say about past possibility of going there?
 

Matthew Wai

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Member Type
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
'I could go there' refers to a future possibility.
'I could have gone there' refers to a past possibility.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
It could also refer to a past ability/capacity.
 

Matthew Wai

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Member Type
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain. I could go there when I was young and strong.
 

suniljain

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
'I could go there' refers to a future possibility.
'I could have gone there' refers to a past possibility.

Does it make any difference is I use "can" instead of "could" in my original sentence?
 

suniljain

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
'I could go there' refers to a future possibility.
'I could have gone there' refers to a past possibility.

Could is an modal auxiliary verb and "have" is an auxiliary verb as we use in present perfect tense. Am I correct?
 

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Could is [STRIKE]an[/STRIKE] a modal auxiliary verb and "have" is an auxiliary verb as [STRIKE]we[/STRIKE] used in the present perfect tense. Am I correct?

Yes. Note my corrections above.
 

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Does it make any difference is I use "can" instead of "could" in my original sentence?

It could, depending on the context. I can go there means you are presently able to go there. With could, either some condition applies ("I could go there if my car would start") or the action is in the past ("I could go there when I had a car."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top