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In a grammar book, I read

We use could (not can) plus the perfect when we speculate about the possibility of an earlier event.

An example from the same book:

With better communication, the battle could have been avoided and the lives of more than 2000 people could have been saved.

I was wondering what happens if "could have been avoided" is replaced with "could be avoided" and "could have been saved" is replaced with "could be saved". I guess that such changes don't make the sentence ungrammatical. But how is its meaning affected?

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    In this case, the sentences would switch to talking about the future.
    – Esther
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 16:55
  • @Esther, Here is an example from the book which uses could and according to the book is talking about possibility in the past: "The old house could be quite cold, even in summer."
    – apadana
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 17:02
  • 1
    that sentence is not speculative at all
    – Esther
    Commented Apr 28, 2022 at 17:03

1 Answer 1

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"could have been" vs "could be".
OP's query is

I was wondering what happens if
"could have been avoided" is replaced with "could be avoided" and
"could have been saved" is replaced with "could be saved".

OP's two sentences - the original and the changed one would be:

1.With better communication, the battle could have been avoided and the lives of more than 2000 people could have been saved.
2.With better communication, the battle could be avoided and the lives of more than 2000 people could be saved.

Difference between "could have been" and "could be".
The main difference is that the original sentence describes the past, but the modified sentence discusses future events.

"could have been" explanation".
"Could have been" refers to something that was a possibility in the past but was not realised: what was possible did not occur. The term is frequently linked with a sense of regret.

"could be" explanation.
It is used when discussing a future occurrence or act. Could be is part of the future tense. It's used to indicate that an occurrence or deed may occur in the future. You aren't sure.

The third conditional.
OP's original sentence is actually a third conditional sentence. It can be rewritten as:

If the communication had been better, the battle could have been avoided and the lives of more than 2000 people could have been saved..

Third conditional explanation is given below, for more information please visit the given link.

The third conditional is used to imagine a different past. We imagine a change in a past situation and the different result of that change.
1.If I had understood the instructions properly, I would have passed the exam.
2.We wouldn't have got lost if my phone hadn't run out of battery.
3.You could have been on time if you had caught the bus.
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/conditionals-third-mixed#:~:text=The%20third%20conditional%20is%20used,t%20run%20out%20of%20battery

We can conclude that 'could have been ' cannot be replaced because we cannot change past into future.

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