He might have been asleep.

[tufguy]

"I went to his home rang bell but he didn't open. He might have been asleep or taking shower."

"I went to his home he didn't open the door, he would be taking shower or might be sleeping."

When we use "might have done" in a sentence so that means we are talking about an incident that happened in past before the incident that we are talking about right now like "I went there because I thought he might have brought a new car". If my first sentence is correct then why the useage of "might have been doing" is correct there? Please check my second sentence it also has the same meaning as the first sentence?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I went to his home and rang the doorbell, but he didn't answer the door. He might have been sleeping or showering.

 

[emsr2d2]

"I went to his home rang bell but he didn't open. He might have been asleep or taking shower."

"I went to his home he didn't open the door, he would be taking shower or might be sleeping."

Tufguy, those are two of the most careless pieces you have written in a while here. You had been improving and you were being more careful. You have gone back to running phrases and clauses together without using punctuation or capitalisation.

Did you really think that "I went to his home rang bell but he didn't open" was correct?

 

[tufguy]

Correction for post# 1.

First of all sorry for the mistake.

"I went to his home rang bell but he didn't open the door. He might have been asleep or taking shower."

"I went to his home rang bell but he didn't open the door. He would be taking shower or might be sleeping."

When we use "might have done" in a sentence that means we are talking about an incident that happened in past before the incident that we are talking about right now. "I went there because I thought he might have brought a new car". If my first sentence is correct then why the useage of "might have been doing" is correct there? Please check my second sentence it also has the same meaning as the first sentence?

 

[tufguy]

Could you please tell me when we say "might have done" we talk about past incident that happened earlier to the incident that we are discussing or talking about. Here I wrote "he didn't open the door. He might have been asleep". Why is it correct and please also check my other sentence please.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Here I wrote "he didn't open the door. He might have been asleep". Why is it correct

Because the modal perfect should be used when referring to a past possibility.

 

[tufguy]

Because the modal perfect should be used when referring to a past possibility.

I am confused about it. Please see post#4 and 5.

 

[tufguy]

He might have done ..." can mean It is possible that he did ...:

Luke left England last week. He might have gone back to Istanbul. I don't know for certain.

It can also mean There was a possibility of this happening:

If the Remain camp had won, Cameron might not have resigned.




​Context usually makes the intended meaning clear.

I think I have been unable to make you understand what I would like to know. Please read posts 4 and 5. Sorry for confusing you guys. I am confused and I am also making you confused. Sorry for this.

Additional question:- what is the word for saying that you are going one step back in the past? Like we say "I went there but before that I had been to the market as well" in this sentence we are going deeper in the past.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think I have been unable to make you understand what I would like to know.

Is the following what you want to know?
'Might have done something', 'might have been doing something', and 'might have been something / adjective' could all be correct depending on context.

 

[emsr2d2]

"I went to his home and rang the bell but he didn't open the door."

"I went to his home and rang the bell but he didn't open the door."

Note my corrections above. Can you see why "I went to his home rang bell" is wrong?

 

[Rover_KE]

"He might have been asleep or taking a shower."

\

 

[tufguy]

Is the following what you want to know?
'Might have done something', 'might have been doing something', and 'might have been something / adjective' could all be correct depending on context.

Thanks for your effort but this is not what I meant. Let me give you an example:-"I went to his home. He had a new T.V. He must have bought it." In this situation I am telling you about an incident that happened earlier "I went to his home" but when I say "he must have bought it" I went one step back in the past because "buying that T.V happened prior to "going his home". This is why we used "must have done" here but when we say "I went to his home and rang the bell. He didn't open the door. "He must have been asleep" or "he must have been taking a shower" the role of "must/might have done changes. In these two sentences either he was sleeping or taking a shower but these things were happening when we were ringing the bell and he still was sleeping or taking a shower. So I would like to know why it didn't take you one step back in the past in the second example?

 

[Matthew Wai]

1. 'He might have been sleeping when I rang the bell.'── 'Sleeping' and 'rang the bell' happened at the same time.
2. 'He had bought a TV when I went to his home.'──'Bought a TV' happened before 'went to his home'.

 

[Matthew Wai]

1. 'He must have died when I rang the bell.'── 'Died' happened before 'rang the bell' because 'have died' is the perfect form.
2. 'He must have been dying when I rang the bell.'──'Dying' and 'rang the bell' happened at the same time because 'have been dying' is the perfect continuous form.

Does that make sense?

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

Here is some information that may interest some members and guests.

According to an eminent scholar, many native speakers (including those in the media) get confused between "may have + past participle" and "might have + past participle."

Dr. John Honey gives this "formula":

may have been = could have happened but we don't know yet.
might have been = could have happened but didn't.

Thus, IF you accept this "formula," it appears that we should say:

1. I went to his home and rang the bell, but he didn't answer. He may have been asleep. = We don't know yet. (I'll ask him tomorrow when I see him at school.)

2. I went to his home and rang the bell, but he didn't answer. He might have been asleep, except for the fact that I saw him peeking out a window at me! (He could have been asleep, but he wasn't.)

Dr. Honey's book is entitled Language is Power / The Story of Standard English and its Enemies (1997), pages 158 -159.

 

[tufguy]

1. 'He must have died when I rang the bell.'── 'Died' happened before 'rang the bell' because 'have died' is the perfect form.
2. 'He must have been dying when I rang the bell.'──'Dying' and 'rang the bell' happened at the same time because 'have been dying' is the perfect continuous form.

Does that make sense?

Yes.
"I went to his home. I asked for the screw driver but he didn't give it to me. He must have had it but didn't give it to me."

Is this a correct formation? It means he had screw driver at the same time in his home, right?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I asked for the screw driver but he didn't give it to me. He must have had it but didn't give it to me.

'He must have had the screwdriver when I asked for it, but he didn't give it to me.'
I think 'had' and 'asked' refer to the same time.

 

[tufguy]

'He must have had the screwdriver when I asked for it, but he didn't give it to me.'
I think 'had' and 'asked' refer to the same time.

This is the doubt that I want to clear.