您在《英语常见问题解答大词典》(黑龙江人民出版社,第四次印刷本,p.289)中说:“A. could have done 表示某事在过去本有可能发生,但事实上并未发生。在这一基本含义下,可用于表示埋怨或训斥。”但是,《牛津实用英语语法》(外研社,牛津大学出版社,第三版,§148)却说:
“You should have got tickets from the machine 意指 It was foolish of you not to get tickets from the machine(你不从售票机上买票是愚蠢的)。但, You could have got tickets... 不含有批评的意思, 它仅仅陈述一个事实。”
您的说法似乎与《牛津实用英语语法》的说法相矛盾。您如何解释这个矛盾？
A.J.Thomson在《牛津实用英语语法》(PEG)的第四版(1986年原版)中对上面的论述作了修改:删掉了“但,You could have got tickets...不含有批评的意思,它仅仅陈述一个事实”这句话。这就进一步证明,could have done这一结构有时可能含有“批评的意思”。请看
下面的例证：
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You could have been more considerate. 你本可以更体贴一些的。
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You could have given me some notice! 你本来可以通知我一下的嘛！请做下面的英语试题：
George was good at maths. He ____ me the answer but he refused to. A. ought to tell B. would have told C. might tell D. could have told