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Jooney Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Can vs. could
Hello,
In the following sentece, why is it that you can't interchangeably use can/could?
Who stole the money?
John can be the one(X)
John could be the one(O)
Is it because 'can' denotes theoretical possibility whereas 'could' expresses factual possibility?
It's possible for John to be the one who stole the money=theoretical possibility
Why wouldn't this sentence make sense to the question above?
In the following sentece, why is it that you can't interchangeably use can/could?
Who stole the money?
John can be the one(X)
John could be the one(O)
Is it because 'can' denotes theoretical possibility whereas 'could' expresses factual possibility?
It's possible for John to be the one who stole the money=theoretical possibility
Why wouldn't this sentence make sense to the question above?
Top answer
'Can' is very possible; it is simply not nearly as common as 'could' because 'can' indicates an assurance or confidence that a speaker would rarely have in this situation.
- 'Can' is very possible; it is simply not nearly as common as 'could' because 'can' indicates an assurance or confidence that a speaker would rarely have in this situation.
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5 Answers
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'Can' is very possible; it is simply not nearly as common as 'could' because 'can' indicates an assurance or confidence that a speaker would rarely have in this situation.
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Mister micawber, Thank you for answering my question.
Could you give some examples of 'can' used in that sense?
Could you give some examples of 'can' used in that sense?
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Two friends:
A: Japan will host the 2020 Summer Olympics.
B: You can be wrong, you know.
C: I'm afraid I'll be late for the meeting.
D: You can get there on time, I'm sure.
E: I'll just throw my cigarette **** behind this tree.
F: You can be arrested for that.
etc, etc.
A: Japan will host the 2020 Summer Olympics.
B: You can be wrong, you know.
C: I'm afraid I'll be late for the meeting.
D: You can get there on time, I'm sure.
E: I'll just throw my cigarette **** behind this tree.
F: You can be arrested for that.
etc, etc.
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Mister Micawber thanks for the examples.
so the examples you provided above can be paraphrased as the following?
You can be wrong: it is very possible that you are wrong
You can get there on time: it is very possible that you will get there on time
You can be arrested for that: it is very possible that you will get arrested for that
so the examples you provided above can be paraphrased as the following?
You can be wrong: it is very possible that you are wrong
You can get there on time: it is very possible that you will get there on time
You can be arrested for that: it is very possible that you will get arrested for that
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