Skip to main content

1 : Introductory Unit

 ABILITY

can, can’t, could, couldn’t are used to express ability:

Can you drive?

Help! I can’t swim.

Could you understand what he is saying?

She couldn’t dance very well.

# can have a present and a future meaning.

I can finish it tomorrow.

# could have a past meaning

I could swim when I was five.

  • We can also use  be able to for ability, and it’s easier to do this in the past and future :
    I can’t do it now. I will be able to do it later.
    They were able to complete the job last week.
  • We use be able to in the present perfect tense :
    I have been able to type three of the letters, but I haven’t been able to type the other one.
  • We are more likely to use be able to when something was difficult :
    At first we couldn’t do it because there was a problem, but finally we were able to do it.

We use this/these to refer to the people and things, situations and experiences that are close to the speaker or very close in time. We use that/those to refer to people and things, situations and experiences that are more distant, either in time or physically.

The word this and that are demonstrative pronoun which is used for indicating something. We use the word this to point out a person or object which is close to you. On the other hand, that is used to point a person or an object which is farther from you.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BBS First Year English Question Paper with Possible Answers (TU 2021)

Post a Comment
Read more

Summary and Analysis of My Mother Never Worked

MY MOTHER NEVER WORKED Bonnie Smith - Yackel SYNOPSIS   In the essay “ My Mother Never Worked ,” Bonnie Smith-Yackel recollects the time when she called Social Security to claim her mother’s death benefits. Social Security places Smith-Yackel on hold so they can check their records on her mother, Martha Jerabek Smith . While waiting, she remembers the many things her mother did, and the compassion her mother felt towards her husband and children. When Social Security returns to the phone, they tell Smith-Yackel that she could not receive her mother’s death benefits because her mother never had a wage-earning job. A tremendous amount of irony is used in this essay. The title, in itself, is full of irony; it makes readers curious about the essay’s point and how the author feels about the situation. Smith-Yackel uses the essay to convey her opinion of work. Her thesis is not directly stated; however, she uses detail upon detail to prove her mother did work, just not in the eyes of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Etiquette of Freedom - Gary Snyder

  In his essay " The Etiquette of Freedom ," Gary Snyder explores the concept of freedom in relation to nature and culture. He argues that freedom is not simply the absence of constraints (restrictions), but rather the ability to live in harmony with the natural world. This requires a deep understanding of the environment and a willingness to respect its limits. Snyder begins by defining the terms " wild " and " culture ." He argues that " wild " does not mean " untamed " or " uncivilised ," but rather " self-organizing ." A wild system is one that is able to maintain its own equilibrium (balance) without the intervention of humans. Culture, on the other hand, is a human-made system that is designed to meet our needs. Snyder then goes on to discuss the relationship between freedom and culture. He argues that our culture has become increasingly alienated from nature and that this has led to a loss of freedom. We have...
Post a Comment
Read more