[Grammar] I could never have dreamed of a better

[NAL123]

Consider this sentence, please:

Last night I dreamed of a wonderful vacation. I could never have dreamed of a better vacation!

Is the second sentence talking about my inability to dream of a better vacation only in the past or is it talking about my inability to dream at any time?

Can I use the following sentence to talk about my future inability?

I could never dream of a better vacation.

 

[GoesStation]

No, yes, yes.

Some people use dreamt as the past participle of "dream" with no difference in meaning.

I'd say I never could have dreamt of a better vacation!

 

[Tarheel]

I don't think it's about inabiliy.

I could never have dreamed of a better vacation - It was a good one--unbeatable!

If you would say that about a vacation you had actually had people would think you were saying it was a great vacation.

 

[NAL123]

Now suppose my friend and I are talking about a dream that he saw last night:

My friend: "Last night I dreamt of a wonderful vacation." Then he goes on to explain what he saw in that dream. After learning about his dream, if I wanted to say a better version is not possible for me to see, how would I say?

Me: I could never have dreamed of a better vacation! OR I could never dream of a better vacation!

 

[GoesStation]

Both sentences sound like he's using "dream" figuratively. I'd use other words.

 

[NAL123]

Both sentences sound like he's using "dream" figuratively. I'd use other words.

In that given context, How would you say that sentence then?

 

[emsr2d2]

In [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] the [STRIKE]given[/STRIKE] context given, how would you say that sentence? [STRIKE]then?[/STRIKE]

If you're talking about the context in post #1, given that you did dream about a great vacation, you could say "I couldn't have dreamt of a more perfect vacation!" If you think the dream can't be surpassed, you could use "I'll never [be able to] dream of a more perfect vacation!"

 

[NAL123]

If you're talking about the context in post #1, given that you did dream about a great vacation, you could say "I couldn't have dreamt of a more perfect vacation!" If you think the dream can't be surpassed, you could use "I'll never [be able to] dream of a more perfect vacation!"

Sorry for confusing it. I was talking about the context in post #4.

 

[emsr2d2]

In that case, perhaps "I doubt I'll ever dream of a more perfect vacation!" would work.

 

[NAL123]

In that case, perhaps "I doubt I'll ever dream of a more perfect vacation!" would work.

One last question:what is the difference between the following?

1) In the given context.
2) In the context given. (you corrected me in post #7)

 

[emsr2d2]

Words like "above", "below" and "given" (and probably lots more) are more natural after the noun they refer to. They're not attributive adjectives. They're adverbs when used in the context above (see what I did there?)