Can / be able

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Hi,

can / be able use is future:

Considering that be able is the only form to use in future ( not can ), then

we could only say,

- Our baby will be able to walk in a few weeks. But, not Our baby can

walk in a few weeks. What do you think of this ?

can / be able use in present:

we can either use can or be able,

- I can't pay you today, or I'm not able to pay you today. Here we often

use can. Am I right?

Can / Future:

The only way I can use could in future is with the conditional form. If I

say,

- I could go there. How can you tell the tense of this sentence; it could be

in conditional future or conditional with a present meaning or at the past.

Thanks, and still have one question Smile

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Re: Can / be able

navigator wrote:

Hi,

can / be able use is future:

Considering that be able is the only form to use in future ( not can ), then

we could only say,

- Our baby will be able to walk in a few weeks. But, not Our baby can

walk in a few weeks. What do you think of this?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++

JTT:
You're right, Navigator. 'can' wouldn't be used in the baby sentence. "can" is used for a general future, to talk about things that happen more or less routinely.

"It can be nice there in the winter."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

can / be able use in present:

we can either use can or be able,

- I can't pay you today, or I'm not able to pay you today. Here we often

use can. Am I right?

++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++

JTT:
Yup, you're right again.

+++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++

Can / Future:

The only way I can use could in future is with the conditional form. If I

say,

- I could go there. How can you tell the tense of this sentence; it could be

in conditional future or conditional with a present meaning or at the past.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
JTT:
You can't tell whether the meaning is sometime in the future or right at this minute but you can tell it isn't past tense because of the meaning and also, because modal verbs have NO tense. They are tenseless in modern English, Navigator.

For it to be past, you'd have to have modal perfect could, as in,

I could HAVE GONE there, ...

'can', like 'could' can also be conditional.

A: I can go there.

B: Yeah, if ...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks, and still have one question .

0 Replies

Re: Can / be able
Thanks JTT

JTT wrote:

navigator wrote:

JTT:
You can't tell whether the meaning is sometime in the future or right at this minute but you can tell it isn't past tense because of the meaning and also, because modal verbs have NO tense. They are tenseless in modern English, Navigator.

For it to be past, you'd have to have modal perfect could, as in,

I could HAVE GONE there, ...

.

But if he meant, I could go there at that time. Then I think it would be past, so the full sentence shows us the way out.

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"I could go there at that time" is wrong.

But only a little.

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Hi McTag, why is it wrong?

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navigator wrote:

Hi McTag, why is it wrong?

It sounds a bit wrong to me, but I can't quite explain why. JTT will come back I'm sure, and put us straight.

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McTag wrote:

"I could go there at that time" is wrong.

But only a little.

I think it was only the unusual nature of the phrase which prompted me to say that.

There is nothing wrong with, for example,

"I could go there then, but I can't go there now."

So it appears I was wrong. Sorry.

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Re: Can / be able

navigator wrote:

Thanks JTT

JTT wrote:
navigator wrote:

JTT:
You can't tell whether the meaning is sometime in the future or right at this minute but you can tell it isn't past tense because of the meaning and also, because modal verbs have NO tense. They are tenseless in modern English, Navigator.

For it to be past, you'd have to have modal perfect could, as in,

I could HAVE GONE there, ...

.

But if he meant, I could go there at that time. Then I think it would be past, so the full sentence shows us the way out.

As McTag noted, Navigator, it is wrong. Wrong in the sense that no ENL would ever say it when the meaning was finished/past time. 'could' CANNOT be used this way, ie. to talk about singular past events, except for a narrow range of verbs of the senses.

If your native language uses the equivalent/dictionary translation of 'could' as a past tense then of course it seems perfectly natural to you that it should do so in English.

This is especially so when traditional grammar has told you that modal verbs have present and past tenses. THEY DO NOT. In older forms of English, modals did have tense. In modern English they are TENSELESS.

How do we know that modal verbs are tenseless? Because every modal verb can be used in past, present and future situations/contexts.

But in order for modals to actually discuss a PAST TENSE one time event [for the vast vast majority of uses] we have to use the modal perfect.;

could have +PP

may have + PP

should have + PP

can have + PP

will have +PP

would have +PP

In your example;

"But if he meant, I could go there at that time", and "at that time" held a past time meaning for both speaker and listener then an ENL would say it like this,

"I could HAVE gone there at that time."

*I could go there at that time. *

is ungrammatical [shown by the asterisks] UNLESS the meaning of "at that time" denotes a future time.

JTT: I'll see you at the pool next Sunday, Navigator.

Navigator: No, that won't work for me.

JTT: Okay then, how about the following Tuesday?

Navigator: Okay, I could go there at that time.

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McTag wrote:

McTag wrote:
"I could go there at that time" is wrong.

But only a little.

I think it was only the unusual nature of the phrase which prompted me to say that.

There is nothing wrong with, for example,

"I could go there then, but I can't go there now."

So it appears I was wrong. Sorry.

McTag wasn't wrong when he said it was wrong. It was wrong.

Note the difference in McTag's example. His talks of a general condition. It was okay to go 'there' anytime he wanted. This is one of the jobs of modal 'could'; to talk about a general ability in the past.

But to discuss a one time event, the mark of a real past tense, 'could', standing alone, isn't available to us.

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Phew. Thanks, JTT.

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Clear explanation. Thank you JTT

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A2NO wrote:

Clear explanation. Thank you JTT

You're welcome, A2NO.

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One thing, I could have gone there

means ( ofcourse ) that I had the opportunity or ability to go there but I

didn't go.

Thanks everybody, thanks JTT Cool

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Can / be able

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