grammar · neutral
may have been + past participle
Modal perfect passive: suggests it is possible that something was done in the past (passive meaning).
Examples
“The software may have been installed by the technicians overnight.”
“Key evidence may have been destroyed during the fire.”
“The figures may have been misreported in the initial release.”
Band 8 sentence
“Given the server logs, the backups may have been overwritten during the update window.”
Collocations
- may have been + past participle + by + agent
- may have been damaged / may have been affected / may have been overlooked
Common mistakes
It maybe been fixed last night.→It may have been fixed last night.
The files may been deleted.→The files may have been deleted.
Say it for a higher band
5was + past participle→6may have + past participle (active)→7+may have been + past participle
Easily confused
may have + past participle
“They may have missed the meeting.”
might have been + past participle
“The report might have been lost.”
Related words
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In Tenses
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