English_for_Finance_and_Banking

MODAL VERBS. CAN; COULD TO BE ABLE TO

Uses	Present/Future	Past
1) ability; capability	I can run fast. I can help you. I am able to help you. I will be able to help you.	I could run fast when I was a child, but now I can’t. I was able to help you.
2) informal permission	You can use my car tomorrow.
3) polite request	Can I borrow your pen? Could I borrow your pen? Could you help me?
4) impossibility (negative only)	That can’t be true! That couldn’t be true!	That can’t have been true! That couldn’t have been true!
5) suggestion	— I need help in math. You could talk to your teacher.	You could have talked to your teacher.
6) less than 50% certainty	— Where is John? He could be at home.	He could have been at home.
7) doubt; astonishment (interrogative)	Can she know Japanese?	Can he have done it?

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