General English Level 6 Version 2.1 © 2004 acl Pty Ltd GELEV6 Unit 04 Topic 03.doc sounded somebody was trying to open the door. felt there was someone in the room. looked no-one had lived in the house for a long time. tasted the meat had been cooked for too long. It smelt as if as though if the place had never been cleaned. Examples Listen to the examples. 1. She looked as if she'd seen a ghost. 2. She remembered the events as if they had happened yesterday. 3. She behaved as though she didn't care. 4. Her hair looked as if she'd never combed it. 5. He looked as though his heart was broken.  LANGUAGE FOCUS 05 Speculating about the past Jake and Rani say: Jake: It (the noise) might have been the wind … Rani: It (the object disappearing) could have been your flat-mates, couldn't it? Jake and Rani use might have been and could have been to talk about something in the past that they are not sure of but think might be possible. They want to find an explanation for something they don't understand. This is called speculating about the past. To speculate about the past we use the modal verbs could, may or might + have + past participle. We can also use the third conditional to speculate about events in the past. We use the third conditional to talk about an imaginary or unlikely event in the past and its result. Jake says: He'd NEVER have come over if he'd known, would he? Jake didn't tell his friend about the ghost because he thought his friend would not come over to his house if he knew about it. 122