Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997

25 Can, could, be able to

Quick reference

We use can + infinitive without to and be able to + infinitive:

• for ability/inability. I can speak Spanish. I can’t ski

He’ll be able to drive soon. I won’t be able to remember your phone number.

• for possibility/impossibility. I can meet you at the station.

I can’t write to her. I don’t know her address. I’ll be able to leave early tomorrow.

• In the present, we usually use can, not be able to. I can speak Spanish, (not I’m able to)

• In the future we use will/won’t be able to, not can, when we want to emphasise the future time. When she's 18, she’ll be able to drive to school.

• In the past we normally use could for a general ability and was/were able to for a particular action or situation. But in the negative couldn’t is more common than wusn’t/werenI able to.

He could write with either his left or right hand, (a general ability)

/ didn't have any money yesterday, but a friend was able to lend me some.

(a particular situation, so we don’t use could)

I couldn’t believe it when she said she was 20. (not I wasn’t able to believe it.)

1 Complete the sentences using can/can’t or the correct form of be able to.

My brother (1) ... speak four languages. At the moment he’s studying Japanese and by the end of next year he (2) ... speak five languages and he (3) ... get a job

with a Japanese company. I’d like to (4) ... speak two languages! I (5) ... speak English and I (6) ... really speak that very well! I’m going to French evening classes

at the moment but I (7) ... go every week because I’ve been too busy.

2 Robert Collingwood has been a writer for 30 years. Complete the sentences with can/can’t could/couldn’t or (not) able to.

When I started writing books I (1) ... type so I wrote my first book with a pen and paper. A year after the book was published, I got my first royalty cheque and I (2) ... buy a typewriter. But I (3) ... only type with two fingers, so my second book took much longer to write. When I got my second royalty cheque. I (4) ... buy a word processor. At first! I (5) ... understand how to use it and I lost a whole chapter of my book! I (6) ... find it anywhere on my computer. Fortunately, a friend, who was an expert on computers, (7) ... find it for me and he said he (8) ... teach me how to use a word processor properly.

3 In Britain Sunday used to be a special day. Underline the better alternative.

A few years ago, on Sundays, you (1) weren't able to/couldn’t buy anything except a newspaper. And you (2) weren't able to/couldn't do anything either. The only thing you (3) were able to/could do was go for a walk or go to church. But recently the law has changed and people (4) have been able to/ could do much more. Last Sunday I (5) was able to/could go shopping at the supermarket. Then, in the afternoon, my son and I (6) were able to/could watch a professional football match.