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Hello,Could you check these sentences, please? Dennis will be able to play  the trumpet after four months. (I didn't use 'can' as Dennis doesn't have the ability of playing the trumpet yet.Maybe the Smiths  will be able to build  a new house next year.  Why using can is wrong here? Is it because they don't have the ability of building it yet?Thanks

Nina_Nia · Accepted Answer

Can  it also refer to past? Dennis was able to play the trumpet after four months. In this case which would be better to use  'could' or 'was able to'?

Fivejedjon · Answer

You're rather http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flogging_a_dead_horse with so many very similar questions. You have nine threads currently open on the topic.

Nina_Nia Dennis will be able to play the trumpet after four months. (I didn't use 'can' as Dennis doesn't have the ability of playing the trumpet yet.

Fine.

Nina_NiaMaybe the Smiths will be able to build a new house next year. Why using can is wrong here? Is it because they don't have the ability of building it yet?

'Can' is not wrong. However, as the ability to build it will come in the future, 'will be able to' is probably more likely.

Nina_Nia · Answer

fivejedjonYou're rather flogging a dead horse with so many very similar questions.

Well, I have to disagree with you. I am posting these questions on behalf of a very curious student of English. She is a schoolgirl and wants to be 100% sure she knows the material very well. Flogging a dead horse is not the same as being enthusiastic about English.

Nina_Nia · Answer

fivejedjon'Can' is not wrong. However, as the ability to build it will come in the future, 'will be able to' is probably more likely.

Maybe it's not wrong because it expresses possibility?

Fivejedjon · Answer

The real difficulty is not that you don't understand which is the more appropriate verb generally. You seem yo have a reasonable idea of that. The problem is rather your belief that the other form must always be wrong or that there is a clear explanation of why the other form is used.

The ideas you have on the appropriate verb are generally correct, but they were originally based on how most people use them most of the time. They are not absolute rules.

Dennis can/will be able to play the trumpet proficiently next year. Here we have a a case in which the acquisition of the ability is in the future, Can s not appropriate.

Dennis can/will be able to buy a trumpet next year. Without more context, it is just not possible to say which verb is more appropriate.

If we are talking about permission (when the purist would prefer may, can is far more likely, but will be able to is not impossible - though it may well be marked wrong in a school test.

If we are talking about potential (he is saving regularly, so ...), then you will hear both forms. Test setters will probably prefer will be able to.

This may seem unhelpful, but it should remove some pressure. If your schoolgirl follows the guidance you have been talking about, she will almost always produce a sentence that is both natural and acceptable to the most narrow-minded test-setter. However, she should not be surprised if she hears native speakers sometimes use one verb when she would expect the other.

Nina_Nia · Answer

fivejedjonThis may seem unhelpful

It's quite helpful. Thanks.

CalifJim · Answer

Nina_NiaDennis will be able to play the trumpet after four months. (I didn't use 'can' as Dennis doesn't have the ability of playing the trumpet yet.)

Your reasoning is correct. You don't want 'can' there.

Nina_NiaMaybe the Smiths will be able to build a new house next year. Why is using 'can' is wrong here?

It's not wrong, but to my ear 'can' suggests maybe they will be comfortable with waiting until next year, whereas 'will be able to' suggests that they don't have the money to do it now. The Smiths' ability to build a house doesn't come into it because in all probability they'll hire someone else to do the job anyway.

I think it's more likely that the sentence is about not being able to have the house built now because of lack of funds (or some such snag in the plan), so 'will be able to' seems the more plausible way to write the sentence, given the choice.

Not everyone will have the same intuitions as I did in my explanation above.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Nina_NiaDennis was able to play the trumpet after four months. In this case which would be better to use 'could' or 'was able to'?

While I see no objection to either phrasing, I prefer 'was able to'. (I don't know why. Maybe it connotes the idea of ultimate success better than 'could'.)

CJ

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