Advanced Class

Brazilian English Academy

By Leonardo Welpel (ESL Teacher)

Modals

Can, Could, be able to and be allowed to

Talking about 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. Compare:

• e.g.: It could be expensive to keep a cat. (if we had, it could or it might not be expensive)

• e.g.: It can be expensive to keep a cat. ( it can be, and it sometimes is)

Talking about possibility

• We use can't, not couldn't, to say that something is theoretically or actually impossible:

• e.g.: There can't be many people in the world who haven't watched television.

• e.g.: The doctor can’t see you this morning. He's busy at the hospital.

Talking about possibility

• We use can to indicate that there is a very real possibility of a future event happening. Using could suggest that something is less likely or that there is some doubt about it. compare:

• e.g.: We can stay with Jim in Oslo. (We will be able to stay)

• e.g.: We could stay with Jim in Oslo (It's possible; if he's there)

Talking about permission

• To say that someone in the past had general permission to do something - that is, to do it at any time - we can use either could or was/were allowed to. However, to talk about permission for one particular action, we use was/were allowed to, but not could. Compare:

• e.g.: Anyone was allowed to fish in the lake. (or could fish ...)

• e.g.: Although he didn't have a ticket, Josh was allowed to come in. -( not ... could come in)

Talking about permission

• In negative sentences, we can use either couldn't or wasn't/weren't allowed to to say that permission was not given in general or particular situation:

• e.g.: We weren't allowed to/couldn't open the gifts until that evening.

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