@WBYeats,
WBYeats wrote:
If CAN can means possible, then why can't we say this?:
-More than half of the population CAN win a prize
when a fast food shop is holding/going to hold a lottery.
'Can' doesn't just signify possibility; it also signifies ability, as I am now saying for the third time.
More than half of the population CAN read
More than half of the population CAN write
More than half of the population CAN ride a bicycle
More than half of the population CAN speak French
To signify future possibility or potentiality we use 'could'.
More than half of the population CAN buy a lottery ticket and COULD win a prize.
Many bridges have cracks and could collapse.
We use 'can' to signify possibility in a generic sense:
A (generic, hypothetical) building constructed of inferior materials can collapse in an earthquake. That (actual, physical) building over there is constructed of inferior materials and could collapse in an earthquake.