might have been a long time

[ostap77]

"When did you last see him?

If you are not sure when or even If you ever saw him, can you answer like this?

"I might have been a long time ago."

OR

Can you say If you don't remember exactly when "It would have been a couple of hours ago.''?

OR

You are trying to make someone recall what the weather was like on a day in the past "Well you remember anything? It would have been what a nice sunny day?''

 

[ostap77]

"When did you last see him?

If you are not sure when or even If you ever saw him, can you answer like this?

"It might have been a long time ago."

OR

Can you say If you don't remember exactly when "It would have been a couple of hours ago.''?

OR

You are trying to make someone recall what the weather was like on a day in the past "Well you remember anything? It would have been what a nice sunny day?''

Can you please say if it's possible to use it the way I suggested?

 

[ostap77]

Re: might have been a long time possibility

Can you please say if it's possible to use it the way I suggested?

a

 

[5jj]

"When did you last see him?"

If you are really unsure, then you can certainly say:
"It might have been a long time ago."


Can you say If you don't remember exactly when "It would have been a couple of hours ago.''?

will have been implies absolute certainty, would have been a less strong certainty. So the answer to your question is yes, in most circumstances.

 

[ostap77]

"When did you last see him?"

If you are really unsure, then you can certainly say:
"It might have been a long time ago."


Can you say If you don't remember exactly when "It would have been a couple of hours ago.''?

will have been implies absolute certainty, would have been a less strong certainty. So the answer to your question is yes, in most circumstances.

You are trying to make someone recall what the weather was like on a day in the past "Well you remember anything? It would have been, what a nice sunny day?'' How about this at the end of my post?

 

[5jj]

I left that last one out because I couldn't answer it! Let's try now:

I think that if I were trying to make someone recall the weather I would say something like, " Surely you remember. It was such a nice day."

The point is that the speaker knows what the weather was; it is the listener who doesn't. Constructions such as will/would/may/might/could have been are used to indicate the speaker's idea of the (lack of) certainty of the situation.