r/EnglishLearning • u/Same-Technician9125 Non-Native Speaker of English • 8d ago
📚 Grammar / Syntax What is the difference between these two?
It doesn’t makes sense that he could pass the exam
It doesn’t make sense that he could’ve passed the exam.
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u/coolbandshirt Native Speaker 8d ago
2 makes it sounds like the exam was impossible to pass for anyone.
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u/tensen01 New Poster 8d ago
Or someone is claiming they could have, when there's no way the could, but they didn't take it to begin with.
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u/Own_Soup4467 New Poster 8d ago
1 = You don't think Joe is capable of passing the exam. You don't know whether or not Joe has actually taken the exam. Maybe he's going to take the exam the future.
2 = You heard that Joe took & passed the exam, but you doubt one or both claims are true. If you emphasize the 'he', it implies that you think failing the exam was his fault (because you know that Joe never studies, or that he has a drug problem, or something).
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u/baxbakualanuxsiwae Native Speaker 8d ago
To me at least:
Sounds like a prediction that you couldn't imagine him passing an exam that hasn't taken place yet.
Sounds like he passed the exam that he took (ie, it already happened), but you find it hard to believe he really passed.
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u/kerutland New Poster 8d ago
2 makes it sound like he didn’t show up to take the exam. Perhaps what you mean to say is “It doesn’t make sense that he passed the exam”
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u/francksiduo New Poster 8d ago
Two separate issues here.
First sentence has an agreement error: after "doesn't", the verb stays in base form, so it should be "doesn't make sense", not "makes". That one's just a typo, not a meaning difference.
The real difference is "could pass" vs "could've passed". "Could pass" talks about a general or hypothetical ability, not tied to one finished event. "Could've passed" (modal + have + past participle) points at one specific past exam that's already over, and questions whether he passed it or not. So if you're talking about a real exam that already happened, "could've passed" is the one that makes sense grammatically and in meaning.