licinio
Junior Member
- Joined
- May 8, 2006
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Italian
- Home Country
- Italy
- Current Location
- Italy
It was an almost invisible piece of card just in front of the receptionist where very few people can have seen it.
This is the sentence I came across, and I was wondering whether "can have seen it" could be replaced by other modal verbs and if so, with what shades of meaning.
In particular, I'm asking about:
- where very few people could see it;
- where very few people could have seen it.
I expect the use of the past infinitive indicates the action didn't take place, so that it would have been theroretically possible to see the card, but nobody did. So it emphatically highlights that the writer didn't read the card.
On a second point, I am rather more curious to find out if could is a viable option, as I would have said so myself, probably even ruling out using "can" since the talk is about the past.
Thanks.
Andrea
This is the sentence I came across, and I was wondering whether "can have seen it" could be replaced by other modal verbs and if so, with what shades of meaning.
In particular, I'm asking about:
- where very few people could see it;
- where very few people could have seen it.
I expect the use of the past infinitive indicates the action didn't take place, so that it would have been theroretically possible to see the card, but nobody did. So it emphatically highlights that the writer didn't read the card.
On a second point, I am rather more curious to find out if could is a viable option, as I would have said so myself, probably even ruling out using "can" since the talk is about the past.
Thanks.
Andrea