Anonymous  +  550900 Mon, 04 Aug 08 11:01 PM Hi, Please tell me if the underlined verbs denote past events. 1.Why did he not tell us the truth? He may have had a reason, -- why not 'might not have had'?? 2.On the day it was written, it was read aloud  and there it was found that no one should be admitted into the group, -- does 'should' denote a past event or action as a past form of 'shall'?? Anonymous Verbs, Tenses

	Clive  +  550916 Mon, 04 Aug 08 11:16 PM Hi, Please tell me if the underlined verbs denote past events. 1.Why did he not tell us the truth? He may have had a reason,  This second sentence is not a reference to a past event. It speculates about the past. -- why not 'might not have had'?? Very generally and simplistically speaking, think of it this way. 'Tom may have had a reason.'       The speaker thinks Tom is a nice guy who is likely to want to tell the truth. 'Tom may not have had a reason.' The speaker thinks Tom is not a nice guy, and that he is not likely to want to tell the truth. 2.On the day it was written, it was read aloud  and there it was found that no one should be admitted into the group, -- does 'should' denote a past event or action as a past form of 'shall'?? It means that no-one ought to have been be admitted, no-one was supposed to be admitted. It's a rather formal and somewhat old-fashioned usage. Best wishes, Clive Clive Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Canada Veteran Member 29,644 El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo Verbs, Tenses

	Clive  +  550959 Tue, 05 Aug 08 01:15 AM Hi,  As to the question of whether 'might not have had' could have been used, what would you say? Can I say this? Why did he not tell us the truth? He may have had a reason but we didn't hear about it at our last meeting two days ago. -- Should this be "might have had"? When do you use "might have had" and "may have had"?    I really don't see any difference between 'may/might' in this kind of context, where we are discussing possibility and we don't know the outcome. We can also speak this way with might, to say that something was possible but did not happen. eg  You shouldn't have climbed that tree. You might have killed yourself. You can also use this 'may/might' structure to talk about present or future. eg I'll phone him, but he may / might have gone out by now. eg By the end of this year, I may/might have saved enough money to buy a house. Some of my comments and examples above are quoted from or based on looking at Michael Swan's very useful book, Practical English Usage. Best wishes, Clive . Clive Difference Between, Tenses