As much as I could

Question

So I found a few of sentences like these ones :

1. I washed and washed as much as I could, but the paint began to harden.

2. So we took as much as we could and headed out.

3. When I was a child, I would learn as much as I could about my pets.

So I just wanted to know what kind of meaning "could" has. Does "could" have conditional meaning with some unstated if-clause. Or does it simply relate to ability that someone had in the past? If it's an ability then I'm confused. Because there's a rule stating that we can't use could when talking about some certain particular past situation and we should use "was, were able to/managed to/etc instead. So sentences 2 and 1 are about particular past situations and sentence 3 is something like what a person always did in the past. So "could vs. was able to" rule doesn't work in here.

Could you help me out?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

DVBC
1. I washed and washed as much as I could, but the paint began to harden. [= as much as I was able to wash]
2. So we took as much as we could and headed out. [= as much as we were able to take]
3. When I was a child, I would learn as much as I could about my pets. [= as much as I was able to learn]
So I just wanted to know what kind of meaning "could" has.

It's the past of "can". To my ear there is no hint of a conditional meaning in any of these sentences.

DVBCIf it's an ability then I'm confused. Because there's a rule stating that we can't use could when talking about some certain particular past situation and we should use "was, were able to/managed to/etc instead. So sentences 2 and 1 are about particular past situations and sentence 3 is something like what a person always did in the past. So "could vs. was able to" rule doesn't work in here.

Right. "as much as" neutralizes the difference; you can use either "could" or "be able to". That's because "as much as" does not imply "all". Thus, it doesn't represent total success. Only in the case of "all" would you have to switch from "could" to "was able to" to signal success.

I was able to wash all of it before the paint hardened. (succeeded)
I could wash all of it before the paint hardened/hardens. (would be able to; conditional)

We were able to take all of it and head out. (succeeded)
We could take all of it and head out. (would be able to; conditional)

As you say, the third is about a habit in the past. That's always non-conditional. "could" is much more common than "was able to" in this pattern.

When I was a child, I would learn everything I [could/was able to] about my pets.

CJ

As much as I could

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