Page 74 - PDF_Oxford Grammar for Schools 5_Neat 1

Ability and requests

I can use modal verbs to talk about ability and make requests.

Ability (can, can't, could, beable to, managed to)

Would ou núiAd the wliÿdow, piease?

y of course ... oh, actually, Itcm/t ope it. it's locked

You'll be able to opei-v Itwith the \
teey. Now, Where's the key? )

I do\*st feuvow. i caiA/'t see It at all

Ah, there it Is! it's oia, the floor. Catt you. 0et It?

A modal verb shows the speaker's attitude or opinion We can use managed to + the infinitive for difficult
towards a fact, event or activity.The mainverb is achievements.
always inthe infinitive form. We eventually managedto start the car.
He didn't manage to swimacross the river.
We use the modalverb can + the infinitive when we
talk about an ability or skill inthe present. To predict future ability we use beable to with will
I canspeak French. or be going to.
I can't open it. You'll be able to see the stage from here.
Canyou get it? I'mnotgoingto beable to come onFriday.

We use could or was/were able to when we talk about We also use be able to after used to, want to, would
a general skill or ability in the past. like/love to and with the present and past perfect.
Amy couldskiwhen she was a child. =Amy was able to Heusedto be able to run very fast.
skiwhen she was a child. I'dloveto beable to ski.
I couldn'tswim sixyears ago. = I wasn't able to swim six I'venever beenable to drawpeople's faces.
years ago.
Couldthey readwhen theystartedschool? = Were they Modifiers
able to readwhen they startedschool?
To modify the degree of ability with can, could and
We use was/were able to, but not could, when there be able to we use (quite/veryj well and not...at all.
was an opportunity to do something at a particular Mygrandmother was able to paint very well.

moment in the past. (= a very good painter)
Fortunately, we were able to get homebeforeit Icanspeak French quite well. (= a good French speaker)
startedraining. Icouldn'thearyou very well. (= not good)
Fortunately, we couldget homebefore itstartedraining. Ican't sing at all. (= a bad singer)

To modify the degree of difficulty we can use easily.
But in negative sentences we can use either couldn't
Icaneasily do that. / 1cando that easily.
or wasn't/weren't able to.
Unfortunately,we couldn'tget homebeforeitstarted They were easilyable to see us. They were able to see
raining. = Unfortunately,we weren't able to get home useasily.{= with no problems)
beforeitstartedraining.
She wasn't able to finishall the examquestions in
the timeavailable. = She couldn't finish allthe exam
questions inthe time available.

74 Ability and requests