could has been

USAGE SUMMARY

The part of the sentence 'could has been' is not correct and is not usable in written English.
To be correctly used in written English, the phrase 'could have been' should be used. For example, "He could have been a great musician, but he chose a different career path."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

Science

News & Media

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

7 human-written examples

But he's straightforward, solid and honest and seeing him do what we believed he could has been hugely professionally satisfying.

Independent

Furthermore, the observation that Smt-MF performed better than Smt-LF could has been due to the effective transposition to a higher pitch range that occurs with Smt-LF mapping.

EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing

Alma, the downtown kitchen that could, has been named the best new restaurant in the United States by Bon Appétit magazine.

Los Angeles Times

For example, the recorded cell in Figure 6D could has been covered with a spot of 20 µm.

Plosone

If the number of cases were much more, study could has been more power.

Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials

A preventable AE was defined as an AE which could has been prevented if adequate actions had been taken during the patient's contact with health care [ 21].

BMC Health Services Research

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

53 human-written examples

Could've been him.

The New Yorker

Things could have been better.

The New York Times - Sports

"Could've been better, though.

The New York Times - Sports

I could have been injured.

The New York Times - Sports

Everyone could have been saved.

The New York Times - Arts

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Always use "could have been" instead of "could has been" in formal writing. The former is the correct grammatical form to express a past possibility.

Common error

Avoid using "has" after modal verbs such as "could", "should", or "would". The correct form is always the base form "have". For example, it's correct to say "He should have gone", not "He should has gone".

Linguistic Context

The phrase "could has been" is an incorrect attempt to form the past conditional perfect tense. This construction aims to express a potential action or state that did not occur in the past. However, the correct auxiliary verb form is "have", not "has". Ludwig AI confirms that the correct version is "could have been".

Expression frequency: Uncommon

Frequent in

Science

43%

News & Media

29%

Formal & Business

0%

Less common in

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

The phrase "could has been" represents a common grammatical error when attempting to express a past conditional possibility. The correct form is "could have been". Ludwig AI confirms the incorrectness of "could has been", pointing to the necessity of using "have" instead of "has" after the modal verb "could". While "could has been" appears in some sources, its frequency is low, and its use diminishes credibility in formal contexts. Alternatives such as "might have been" or "may have been" offer similar meanings with correct grammar.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

could have been

Corrects the grammatical error by using the proper auxiliary verb "have" instead of "has".

might have been

Substitutes "could" with "might", indicating a slightly lesser degree of certainty about the past possibility.

may have been

Replaces "could" with "may", also indicating a possible past event with some uncertainty.

would have been

Uses "would" instead of "could", suggesting a conditional past event that did not actually occur.

it was possible that

Rephrases the idea to emphasize the possibility of a past event without using modal verbs.

it is conceivable that

Similar to "it was possible that", but adds a sense of believability or imaginability.

it could be imagined

Focuses on the imaginative aspect of a potential past scenario.

it is imaginable

Similar to "it could be imagined", emphasizes the imaginability.

perhaps it was

Uses "perhaps" to introduce the possibility of a past event in a more concise way.

conceivably it was

Expresses the idea that something was possible, focusing on how conceivable it was.

FAQs

What is the correct grammatical form, "could has been" or "could have been"?

The correct form is "could have been". "Could has been" is grammatically incorrect.

When should I use "could have been"?

Use "could have been" to express a possibility that existed in the past but did not occur. For example, "I could have been a doctor, but I chose to be a teacher".

What are some alternatives to "could have been"?

Alternatives include "might have been", "may have been", or "would have been", depending on the degree of certainty or conditionality you want to express.

Is "could of been" an acceptable alternative to "could have been"?

While "could of been" is sometimes heard in informal speech, it's generally considered incorrect in formal writing. The correct form is always "could have been".