In the listening lesson “Thor to the Rescue!”, I talked about a dog I encountered before I went for a walk around my neighbourhood. I had never seen this dog before and I didn’t know anything about him or his situation. I said:
He could be far from home and he could have been wandering for days without food or water.
I have no knowledge of this dog, so I am guessing things about him.
The modal verb could is used to guess things about someone or something when we know nothing about them:
Don’t make fun of Maria for putting on weight! She could be pregnant, not fat!
Does she know anything about her new boyfriend? He could be dangerous! He could be married! He could have 10 kids!
Don’t open the door! There could be a serial killer at the door!
I’m nervous about sharing a room with someone I don’t know anything about. She could talk in her sleep. She could snore. She could have strange friends!
We can also use could + perfect tense to speculate about something that happened earlier, even though we have no knowledge:
[Thor the dog] could have been wandering for days without food or water.
I don’t know why Kevin is so angry. He could have been fired from his job, he could have been robbed, he could have lost his dog …
*Using could for guessing something is different than using may or might. When you use may or might to talk about possibility, you have some knowledge and use that knowledge to say what is or isn’t possible. Could can be used when you have NO knowledge!
*Could not is NOT used for guessing.
Melanie is a TESL-certified English teacher. She lives near Toronto, Canada. Through her blog, videos, podcasts, and social media, she helps thousands of people around the world improve their English. She makes English a little less confusing and a little more fun! She also helps people understand Canadian and American culture. She believes that natural interaction with a native speaker helps people practice what they have learned and builds their confidence with English!
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