For example, if you say `I couldn't be happier', you mean that you are extremely happy. 2 people chose this as the best definition of i-couldn-t-have-said-it-better-myself: Used to wholeheartedly ag... See the dictionary meaning, pronunciation, and sentence examples. It can be used as a comparative and superlative, meaning it's the best and when compared it can't get better. rev 2020.11.11.37991, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, English Language & Usage Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. All rights reserved. (The only place where "could"/"couldn't" gets a little messed up is with "I couldn't care less" and "I could care less" -- oddly, they both mean the same thing.). No person could have been more nationalistic. I’m stuffed to the gills. Last night it couldn't be better. Could have is also possible in this context but less common. Her father couldn’t have been rich overnight; he came from a pretty humble background. Click “Next” to answer the next question! How to Write Effective Business Emails at Work. Could've is the usual spoken form of `could have', when `have' is an auxiliary verb. I couldn't have been better (even if I practiced daily). That’s what I’ve also noticed and was going to ask a native about , What about “couldn’t be done”, “has not been done”? Wow! The rest of the players are a great bunch of lads and I couldn't be happier..., The news couldn't have come at a better time. It was the most helpless I have ever felt in my life - what does “the most helpless” mean? For Two Years vs. I mean the construction is different.In the original sentence there is no condition, nor there is any other past form of the verb. For example: “I couldn’t have succeeded if she hadn’t offered any help.”. You use could not or couldn't with comparatives to emphasize that someone or something has as much as is possible of a particular quality. The first one is actually a conclusion you make based on some kind of evidence, the second one is just a simple guess. Synonyms and related words +-Ways of emphasizing how good or bad something is. Pls, answer to this question too. Hence you can not start it again. How do open-source projects prevent disclosing a bug while fixing it? When it comes to modal verbs — the verbs that express necessity or possibility — many learners find them rather confusing. Is it possible Alpha Zero will eventually solve chess? I find it very difficult to manage my monthly expenses because I get. Your second usage of "couldn't have been better" is good. It's certainly been on both sides of the Atlantic (whichever way it crossed the first time) for centuries. couldn’t be done is just to talk about the thing can’t be done at present whereas has not been done means the thing is not yet finished until now. The differnce all lies in the level of certainty. is often answered with "Couldn't be better!". I offer article writing services, SEO and WordPress services. [closed], Creating new Help Center documents for Review queues: Project overview, Feature Preview: New Review Suspensions Mod UX. Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary, be well, ideally, better, etc. 200 mA output from the Arduino digital output. One of the things that I’ve learned, that I didn’t know before that [TEDxHouston] talk exploded, is how hard I’d been working to keep my career small. I couldn't have been better (even if I practiced daily). There's no "supposed person" here because what you are implicitly comparing is not between you and other people, but between how you were and how you could have been. You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz: It’s a very …………………… notion that climate change can be averted by growing trees. As you can see, in the first example, the speaker is talking about the impossibility of the outcome of an event that’s related to the near past. Click “Next” to answer the next question! For my return journey, I felt I could afford the extra and travel first class..., I could see that something was terribly wrong..., When I left school at 16, I couldn't read or write..., There was no way she could have coped with a baby around. site design / logo © 2020 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. “I couldn't have been better” means you are at your best or in other words, you (feel) better than ever before. Mary: Things couldn't be better. You use could to indicate that someone had the ability to do something. Mary: I couldn't be better. You use could when you are expressing strong feelings about something by saying that you feel as if you want to do the thing mentioned, although you do not do it. Perhaps you happened to be in NYC in the 1980s. This can possibly be changed through context: Joe was good at chess. messi. Anne couldn't be expected to understand the situation..., He couldn't have been more than fourteen years old. But my guess is that it was brought across the Atlantic as soon as English speakers crossed the Atlantic. How to avoid damaging spoke nipples when wheel building. When we say “It couldn’t have been the only time you cried”, we are making just a simple guess about the past. ManfI, it might be useful to go back one step and think about conditional sentences: conditional sentences are fine, the examples you showed I understood.But those sentences you sowed aren't they a bit different than the sentence in the original sentence. No person could have been more nationalistic. couldn't synonyms, couldn't pronunciation, couldn't translation, English dictionary definition of couldn't. If you want to support me, please, donate via PayPal. How to make non-linear movements with a Follow Path constraint? ultimate. For instance, while the word bully today describes someone with a mean spirit, it actually used to mean something much … Gemma: This couldn't be better! Filling a shape with intersecting lines in TikZ. So, what’s the real difference in their usages? Why does my character have such a good sense of direction? What is meaning of idiom “I COULDN'T BE BETTER”? It only takes a minute to sign up. So, don’t let the “can’t” lead you to think it can be used in the present tense. How to remove switchport mode access from Cisco Switch 2960? The correct version of your sentence would be "Last night, I couldn't have played better.". As with the Can’t Have (Been), Couldn’t Have (Been) can also be used to express the impossibility of a past event. We've come to see you, so you could at least stand and greet us properly..., Idiot! Such phrases are, of course, often used with an element of rhetorical exaggeration or hyperbole, so it's possible the speaker doesn't actually believe the statement in its literal sense. The differnce all lies in the level of certainty.

Cgh Medical Center Logo, Janus Henderson Invesco, Graduate Student Job Search, Types Of Blankets, Bike Shops Saginaw Mi,