Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[tisogai]

Would someone please help.

I am sorry that I could not be present at the meeting.

This can be rewrote "I wish I had been able to be present at the meeting."

Then, can it also be "I wish I could have been present at the meeting"???

Is that OK??

Thanks.

[Lorikeet]

They are both okay, but I would prefer, "I wish I had been able to attend the meeting."

[tisogai]

Thanks so much for the reply.

Would you please tell me why you prefer that to the other one??

[Lorikeet]

I am not sure why, but I think I like using one verb (attend) instead of a "be" verb and an adjective. (be present) It sounded better.

[tisogai]

Thanks so much, but no, that's not the point I was asking.

I was asking why had been able to is chosen over could have .

That's the point I originally asked.

Thanks.

[Lorikeet]

[tisogai]

Thanks so much again.

Just today I found out "could can't be used for something you succeeded in doing just once" in some reference book.

So it would mean it has to be "I wish I had been able to attend the meeting", but not "could have".

According to that, you can say "She could speak French when she was eight", and "I was able to reserve a table for that restaurant for tomorrow evening", but they are not interchangeble.

Is this true??

[pinenut]

[Lorikeet]