Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Can, could, be able to and be allowed to - Coggle Diagram
Can, could, be able to and be allowed to
Can, could, and be able to: Ability.
We sometimes use
be able to
instead of
can
and
could
to talk about ability. We avoid
be able to
-
When we talk about something that is happening as we speak:
Watch me, Mum; I can stand on one leg. (Not-- I am able to stand on one leg).
Before passives.
Films can now easily be streamed online.
When the meaning is 'know how to'
Can you cook?
If we talk about a single achievement, rather than a general ability in the past, we usually use
be able to
rather than
could
.
Sophie could play the piano quite well.
She swam strongly and was able to cross the river easily, even though it was swollen by the rain.
However,
could
is usually more natural than
be able to-
In negative sentences
I tried to get up but I couldn't move.
With verbs of senses, e,g.
feel, hear, see, smell, taste
, and with verbs of thinking, e.g.
believe, decide, remember, understand:
I could remember the crash, but nothing after that.
Aftter the phrases
the only thing / place / time,
and
after all
when it means
"the only thing
.
All we could see were his feet.
To suggest that
something almost didn't happen
, particularly with
almost, hardly, just, nearly
.:
I could nearly touch the ceiling.
Can and could: possibility
To talk about the theoretical possibility of something happening, we use could, not can. However, we use can, not could, to say that something is possible and actually happens.
It could be expensive to keep a cat. (If we had one, it could or it may not be expensive).
It can be expensive to keep a cat. (It can be, and it sometimes is )
We use can't, not couldn't, to say that something is theoretically or actually impossible.
There can't be many people in the world who haven't watched television.
We use can to indicate that there is a very real possibility of a future event happening. Using could suggests that something is less likely or there is some doubt about it.
We can stay with Jake in Oslo. (We will be able to stay)
We could stay with Jake in Oslo. (It's possible; if he's there)
Could and be allowed to: permission
To say that in the part someone had general permission to do something- that's, to do it at any time- we can use either could or was / were allowed to. However, to talk about permission for one particular past action, we use was / were allowed to, but not could.
Anyone was allowed to fish in the lake when the council owned it.
Although he didn't have a ticket, Ned was allowed to come in.
In negative sentences, we can use either couldn't or wasn't / weren't allowed to say that permission was not given in general or particular situations:
I couldn't / wasn't allowed to open the present until my birthday.