Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[fw]

What is the difference in meaning or nuance between #1 and #2, for the blank in the following passage?
1. could achieve
2. could have achieved

It was only five years ago that people recognized Ken Noguchi as the youngest person to scale the world�s highest peak. Seeing him suffering from altitude sickness, yet smiling while holding a Japanese national flag at the top of Mt. Everest, they wondered how a twenty-five-year-old man ( ) such a major undertaking.

I sense some difference, but I can�t explain it well.

[vernongstamm]

'Could achieve" would mean something is possible.

'Could have achieved' means something would have been possible, but another thing got in the way and didn't allow it to happen.
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[vernongstamm]

'Could achieve" would mean something is possible.

'Could have achieved' means something would have been possible, but another thing got in the way and didn't allow it to happen.

Vernon Stamm
www.stammeducation.net
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[fw]

The following is the real passage I came across the other day.

It was only five years ago that people recognized Ken Noguchi as the youngest person to scale the world�s highest peak. Seeing him suffering from altitude sickness, yet smiling while holding a Japanese national flag at the top of Mt. Everest, they wondered how a twenty-five-year-old man could have achieved such a major undertaking.

As the passage goes, Ken Noguchi managed to climb the peak of Mt. Everest. It really "HAPPENED."

[vernongstamm]

they wondered how a twenty-five-year-old man could have achieved such a major undertaking.

This statement puts a question as to how this was possible considering the man suffered from 'altitude sickness' and grammatically it speaks about something which happened in the past at an unspecified point in time.

they wondered how a twenty-five-year-old man could achieve such a major undertaking.

In this type of statement, the grammar is incorrect because it is referring to something which is about to take place, not something which happened in the past.
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[pinenut]

We use could/might have + past participle to describe a past ability which wasn't used or a past opportunity which wasn't taken.

She could have paid by credit card but she preferred to use cash. (= She had the ability to pay by credit card but she didn't use it)

source: Longman Advance Learners' Grammar

This explanation is exactly the same as the one given by vernongstamm.