Talking about abilities!

Talking about abilities!

Don't panic and let's review!

Ability in the Present

• CAN and CAN'T /CANNOT - General Ability.

• BE ABLE TO - General Ability, more formal.

• REMEMBER: Can is POLYSEMOUS! (Ability, Possibility, Permission).

• MANAGE TO - To do with great difficulty

Multiple Select

Select ALL the correct sentences

• I can to drive large trucks

• They are able drive large trucks

• They're able to drive large trucks

• They can drive large trucks

Multiple Choice

To use 'manage to' you need the word 'difficult' to be present in the text.

• True

• False

General Ability in the Past

• COULD / COULDN'T - As a kid they couldn't swim very well.

• WAS/WERE ABLE TO - As a kid they weren't able to swim very well

Ability in a SPECIFIC occasion in the Past.

• For Most Verbs, use 'WAS/WERE ABLE TO'. e.g.: Yesterday my mom was able to bake a wonderful cake

• For PERCEPTION and MENTAL PROCESS verbs, use COULD:

• I couldn't hear you over the loud music. I could understand the teacher yesterday, but not today.

• Use MANAGED TO for contextual difficulty.

Open Ended

Create a simple sentence using GENERAL ABILITY in the past to complete:

When I was a kid, ...

Multiple Choice

Last night I ____ smell the smoke on time to save the house from the fire

• was able to

• couldn't

• was able

• couldn't to