Giving Feedback: should have, could have and past modals for reviews
About this lesson
Learners practice should have, could have and other past modals for giving and taking feedback in this B2 Business English lesson plan.
- Grammar
- Should have and shouldn't have + past participle for criticism and regret (I should have asked you first.), could have for a missed option, and didn't need to for something unnecessary.
- Topic
- A three-month performance review at a fictional coffee roaster, with constructive feedback, drop the ball and on the spot.
- Activities
- A manager's review notes to read, the review meeting to hear, self-checking drills, a chat after the review, a wheel of feedback role-plays, and a self-review or feedback email and a recording for homework.
What's inside
Chapter 1Warm-up: How Am I Doing?
Chapter 2Reading: Jess's Notes
Chapter 3Listening: The Famous Fifty Brochures
Chapter 4Grammar: I Should Have Asked
Chapter 5Speaking: Kind, Clear and Fair
Chapter 6Homework: Look Back, Move Forward
- Drag the phrases into the gaps: feedback after a client visitDrag and dropUnlock
- Fill in the table: small mistakes at WrenfieldFill in the tableUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: phrases and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
- Write a self-review or a feedback emailWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
- Record a story: a decision you see differently nowSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock
Performance review vocabulary
10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.
+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words
- go the extra mile
- drop the ball
- run something by someone
- on the spot
- own up to a mistake
- take something to heart
- a missed opportunity
Grammar: should have, could have and didn't need to
A review looks back: some things went well, some should have gone differently, and some effort wasn't needed at all. Learners build should have and could have with a past participle, ask whether the action happened, and use didn't need to for wasted effort, so their feedback stays specific and fair. The past modals exercises after the scheme test the form first, then the meaning.
Past modals: should have, could have, didn't need to
Mistakes, missed options and wasted effort: how to talk about them at work
The form: modal + have + past participle
Should, shouldn't and could take have and the past participle, never had or the past simple: I should have asked you first. You could have gone to Sellwood, not could have went. In speech, should have sounds like should've, which is why some people write should of; it's always wrong.
The form
should / shouldn't / couldhavepast participle
I should have asked you first.
You could have sent a PDF.
I should have checked with Helen first.
Say should've, but never write should of
In speech, should have sounds like should've, and could have like could've. That's why people sometimes write should of or could of: both are wrong. Write should have or should've.
Did it happen? What each form means
Ask whether it happened. Should have: no, and that's criticism or regret. Shouldn't have: yes, and it was a mistake. Could have: no, though it was possible. With didn't need to, the context decides: I printed fifty brochures, but I didn't need to.
| Form | Did it happen? | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| should have + past participle | No | It was the right thing to do, but it didn't happen: criticism or regret. | I should have followed up after a week. |
| shouldn't have + past participle | Yes | It happened, and it was a mistake. | You shouldn't have offered ten percent on the spot. |
| could have + past participle | No | It was possible, but you didn't do it. | You could have called them after a week. |
| didn't need to + base form | Yes or no: the context tells you | It wasn't necessary. | I printed fifty brochures, but I didn't need to. / They had our list, so I didn't need to send it. |
Should have or could have?
Should have names the right thing that didn't happen: You should have asked me first. Could have names an option nobody used: You could have driven, but the train was fine too. With you, could have can be a soft complaint: You could have told me you were stuck!
should have: the right thing, and you didn't do it
- Discounts need my OK. You should have asked me first.
- I forgot the follow-up. I should have set a reminder.
- Use it for criticism and for your own regrets.
could have: a possible option that you didn't use
- You could have driven, but the train was fine too.
- With you, it can be a soft complaint: You could have told me you were stuck!
Didn't need to, didn't have to, shouldn't have
I printed fifty, but I didn't need to: it happened, and it wasn't necessary. They had our price list, so I didn't need to send it: it didn't happen. Didn't have to means the same, while shouldn't have says it was wrong. British English also has needn't have printed.
didn't need to: did you do it?
You did it: but … didn't need to
- I printed fifty brochures, but I didn't need to.
- We booked the big room, but we didn't need to: only four people came.
- British English also says I needn't have printed them for this meaning.
You didn't do it: so … didn't need to
- They already had our price list, so I didn't need to send it.
- Ryan had checked the pallet, so Tom didn't need to check it again.
shouldn't have or didn't have to?
shouldn't have + past participle: you did it, and it was wrong. didn't have to + base form: it wasn't necessary, just like didn't need to. Tom shouldn't have offered a discount without asking (it was wrong). Jess said Tom didn't have to come in on Saturday, so he stayed at home (it wasn't necessary).
Typical mistakes: the form
I should had asked you first.
I should have asked you first.
After a modal, always have, never had.
You could have went to Sellwood.
You could have gone to Sellwood.
Use the past participle: go → gone, not went.
I should have ask you.
I should have asked you.
Don't forget the -ed: ask → asked.
They could have tell me.
They could have told me.
Use the past participle: tell → told.
Typical mistakes: the meaning
Discounts need my OK, so you didn't have to offer one.
Discounts need my OK, so you shouldn't have offered one.
Breaking a rule is wrong, not just unnecessary: shouldn't have.
Next time I should have asked you first.
Next time I'll ask you first.
should have is only for the past.
I didn't need to print the brochures, so I printed fifty.
I didn't need to print the brochures, but I printed fifty anyway.
You did it although it wasn't necessary: use but or anyway, not so.
We didn't needed to pay for delivery.
We didn't need to pay for delivery.
After didn't, use the base form.
More lessons on this grammar: Modal verbs lessons and exercises
Try the past modals exercises
Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.
What's in the lesson
- 11 auto-checked exercises
- 3 games
- 2 teacher-checked tasks
- 1 real-life document
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 set of word cards
- 1 audio clip
- 1 picture
- 1 transcript
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- criticize or regret a past action with should have + past participle: I should have followed up after a week.
- point out a missed option or make a soft complaint with could have: You could have told me you were stuck!
- say that something wasn't necessary with didn't need to: I printed fifty brochures, but I didn't need to.
- give feedback that is kind, clear and fair, starting with what went well: One thing to work on is… Next time, you could…
Lesson 16 closes Reports, prices and feedback, unit 4 of Business English B2, with giving feedback. It builds on lesson 15, whose had to and don't need to lead straight to didn't need to, and on should for advice from lesson 26 of English A2.1 · Then and Now. Lesson 17 moves on to imagined pasts with would have, and lesson 18 to guesses with must have. A review looks back over three months, so its mistakes, missed chances and wasted effort all need a past modal.
Students first talk about feedback they've had and given, then learn ten phrases with pictures and audio, from a performance review to a missed opportunity, and match them to situations. Jess's notes for Tom's three-month review list what went well, one thing to work on and next steps, with a true-or-false check and a quiz. The AI-voiced review meeting moves from praise to a discount given on the spot and fifty brochures nobody needed. Four drills test form and meaning after the scheme, and in the chat, students reply to Jess as Tom after the review. Feedback role-plays and stories of past mistakes come from a wheel.
Homework has three self-checking parts: feedback phrases to drag into a manager's comments, a table of small workplace mistakes to comment on, and a memory game. Students then write a self-review or a feedback email and record a story about a decision they now see differently, and the teacher reviews both.
- Grammar:
- should have · could have · didn't have to · didn't need to · past modals
- Topic:
- feedback · performance review · learning from mistakes
Teaching tips
- Read Jess's notes as a manager would: pairs mark each line as praise, criticism or a next step, then turn one criticism into should have and one into could have.
- Play the review twice: first for what went well and what didn't, then for every past modal, sorted into should have, could have and didn't need to.
- Turn the chat into a live follow-up: after students choose Tom's replies, pairs continue the conversation with a new mistake for Jess to raise and Tom to own up to.
- One-to-one, start with a self-review: the learner names one success, one mistake and one wasted effort from their month, and you reply with a Next time, you could… suggestion.
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The whole course: Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield
20 lessons at B2 in American English that follow a year at Wrenfield Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon, as founder Claire Morgan and her team win a Dutch hotel contract. Learners network, write emails, run meetings, negotiate, handle complaints and present figures, with one grammar point per lesson.See the course
Unit 1 First contacts
networking, a company story, a business lunch and emails: present tenses, the present perfect, question tags, indirect questions
Unit 2 Meetings and figures
scheduling, sales figures, running a meeting and negotiating: future forms, trends, gerunds and infinitives, conditionals
Unit 3 Problems and growth
a complaint, a late shipment, a launch and hiring: the present perfect continuous, the passive, comparatives, relative clauses
Unit 4 Reports, prices and feedback
reporting back, explaining prices, expenses and feedback: reported speech, linking words, modals of obligation, past modals
Lesson 13Reporting BackSay vs tell in reported speech
Lesson 14Explaining PricesLinking words of contrast, cause and result
Lesson 15Travel and Expenses: Can I Claim That?Modals of obligation, prohibition and permission
Lesson 16 · you're hereGiving FeedbackShould have, could have and didn't need to
Unit 5 Looking back and ahead
what went wrong, other cultures, an agency and next year: the third and mixed conditionals, past deduction, the causative, the future perfect
