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English Modal Verbs - How To Use 'Can', 'Could' And 'Be Able To'

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You can see the full lesson here: http://www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/video-modal-verbs-ability In this lesson, you can learn how to use the English modal verbs 'can' and 'could' to talk about ability. You will also learn about the verbs 'be able to and 'managed to' to talk about ability.

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Possibility and impossibility

They could come by car. (= Maybe they will come by car.)
They could be at home. (= Maybe they are at home.)

It can be very cold here in winter. (= It is sometimes very cold here in winter.)
You can easily get lost in this town. (= People often get lost in this town.)

Level: intermediate

It could be very cold there in winter. (= It was sometimes very cold there in winter.)
You could easily get lost in that town. (= People often got lost in that town.)

Ability
Level: beginner
We use can and can't to talk about the ability to do something at a specific time in the present or future:
Level: intermediate
We use could have to say that someone had the ability or opportunity to do something, but did not do it:

She could have learned Swahili, but she didn't want to.
I could have danced all night. [but I didn't]

Permission
Level: beginner
We use can to ask for permission to do something:

We use can't to refuse permission or say that someone does not have permission:

Requests

We use could you ... as a polite way of telling or asking someone to do something:

Offers

Suggestions

Questions and negatives

We make questions by putting the subject after can/ could:

The negative form is can't in spoken English and cannot in written English.

The negative form of could is couldn't in spoken English and in written English.

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They could come by car. (= Maybe they will come by car.) They could be at home. (= Maybe they are at home.) It can be very cold here in winter. (= It is sometimes very cold here in winter.) You can easily get lost in this town.