Past modals for judgements and suggestions

When we judge past actions we use:


should (n´t) have

We use should (n´t) have when we give an opinion or judgement about a past situation:

Jessica: I didn´t study for the exam.

Me: You should´ve studied. It was 50 points.

I´m judging Jessica because she didn´t study.

When suggesting alternative past actions we use:

could (n´t) have

would (n´t) have

We use would (n´t) have when we are imagining a hypothetical situation happening to us and doing something different:

Jessica: I forgave my boyfriend.

Me: I wouldn´t have forgiven him.

=

If I were Jessica, I wouldn’t have forgiven him.

We use could (nt´t) have when we are suggesting a hypothetical past possibility:

Jessica: My boyfriend was sad and I didn´t ask him why.

Me: You could have shown more empathy.

=

You had the chance to show empathy but you didn´t.

Exercise 1: modal verbs
Exercise 2: past modal verbs of deduction