1 / 6

Expressing Ability with 'To Be Able To' and 'Could'

Learn how to express ability in all tenses using 'to be able to' and 'could', and how they can be used interchangeably in certain contexts. Includes examples and explanations.

pamelasparks
Download Presentation

Expressing Ability with 'To Be Able To' and 'Could'

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. ‘To be able to’ is used to express ability in all tenses and it also substitutes ‘can’ in all the forms in which it is not possible.Examples: We weren’t able to open the door She has never been able to learn German He had never been able to solve the problem Next month I will be able to drive a car

  2. ‘Could’ or ‘be able to’ ?I could speak Spanish so I was able to understand and answer all his questions

  3. Note wellCould is always possible in the negative form, even when we are talking about a specific moment in the past.Ex: I was so tired that I couldn’t reach the top of the mountain. = I was so tired that I wasn’t able to reach the top of the mountain

  4. Some more examples Jack was an excellent tennis player. He could beat anybody. (he had the general ability to beat anybody)

  5. Some more examples Jack and Alf had a game yesterday. Alf played very well but in the end Jack managed/ was able to beat him.

  6. Some more examples The fire spread through the building quickly , the small boy could leave the building but he didn’t because he wanted to rescue the cat. The fire spread through the building quickly ,but everybody was able to /managed to escape (they were successful in leaving the building)

More Related