LONGMAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR PRACTICE

11 Modal auxiliarles and related verbs

11.2 Uses of modals (etc.) to express ability and inability

11.2A Expressing present and past ability: 'can' and 'be able to' [> LEG 11.10-12]

1 We can use can (or sometimes am/is/are able to) to describe natural or learned ability:

I can (I am able to) run 1500 metres in 5 minutes, (natural ability)

I can't (I am not able to/I am unable to) drive, (learned ability)

2 We can use could, couldn't or was/were (not) able to to describe 'general ability in the past':

I could (I was able to) run very fast when I was a boy. (i.e. general ability)

3 We use was/were able to or managed to (Not "could*) to describe the successful completion

of a specific action:

We were able to (we managed to) get tickets for the match yesterday. (Not "could")

4 However, we can use couldn't to describe a specific action not successfully completed:

We couldn't get tickets for the match yesterday. Or:

We weren't able to/didn't manage to get tickets for the match yesterday.

Write: Supply can, can't, could, couldn't, was/were able to, managed to. Alternatives are possible.

1 A good 1500-metre runner G&tb run the race in under four minutes.

2 Bill is so unfit he run at all!

3 Our baby is only nine months and he already stand up.

4 When I was younger, I speak Italian much better than I now.

5 she speak German very well? - No, she speak German at all.

6 He draw or paint at all when he was a boy, but now he's a famous artist.

7 After weeks of training, I swim a length of the baths underwater.

8 It took a long time, but in the end Tony save enough to buy his own hi-fi.

9 Did you buy any fresh fish in the market? - No, I get any.

10 For days the rescuers looked for the lost climbers in the snow. On the fourth day they

saw them and reach them without too much trouble.

11.2B

Study:

из

Write:

'Can/could' with verbs of perception: 'I can see' [> LEG Э.З, НИЗ, APP 38.4]

1 Verbs of perception are verbs like see, hear, smell, etc. [> 9.1 C]

2 When we are describing something that is happening now, we do not use the progressive with

these verbs: I see a bird in that tree. (Not "I'm seeing")

3 We often use can + verb in place of the simple present with verbs of perception:

I can see a bird in that tree. (= I see) Can you see it? (= Do you see)

We often use could + verb in place of the simple past with verbs of perception:

I looked up, but couldn't see anything. (= didn't see)

.. - • - - - • • -

J

Rewrite these sentences using can, can't, could or couldn't.

1 Do you see that man over there?

2 I smell something burning

3 I understood what he said

4 Did you understand what he said?

5 I don't see anyone

6 I didn't understand what he said