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Findaway Posted 9 years ago
Grammar
Can or could
Am I using 'can' and 'could' right here:
Emotional abuse can result in low self-esteem. Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which could lead to truanting.
Or is 1 or 2 better?
1. Emotional abuse could result in low self-esteem. Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which could lead to truanting.
2. Emotional abuse can result in low self-esteem. Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which can lead to truanting.
Emotional abuse can result in low self-esteem. Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which could lead to truanting.
Or is 1 or 2 better?
1. Emotional abuse could result in low self-esteem. Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which could lead to truanting.
2. Emotional abuse can result in low self-esteem. Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which can lead to truanting.
Top answer
Emotional abuse can / could result in low self-esteem. Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which can / could lead to truanting. ; "He couldn't have been there at the time".
- Emotional abuse can / could result in low self-esteem.
- Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which can / could lead to truanting.
- ; "He couldn't have been there at the time".
- But preterite "could" can also be used for present and future time situations to express a higher degree of modal remoteness than present tense "can", cf.
- "I could do it next week" ~ "I can do it next week", where the former expresses a lesser degree of likelihood.
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1 Answers
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Emotional abuse can / could result in low self-esteem. Therefore, a child may become quiet and find it difficult to make friends, which can / could lead to truanting.
"Could" is the preterite form of "can" and is typically used to express possibility with past time meaning, as in "You could have been killed"!; "He couldn't have been there at the time".
But preterite "could"
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