4.142 possibility: 'could have', 'might have'

You use 'could' or 'might' with 'have' to say that there was a possibility of something happening in the past, although it did not in fact happen.

• It could have been awful.
• I could easily have spent the whole year on it.
• You could have got a job last year.
• A lot of men died who might have been saved.
• You might have found it very difficult.