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Hanuman_2000 Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

can/be able to

0Hello,02br
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001. Let's sit at the back. Ram ------------ drive us to school.02br
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00I have to fill in the gap with "can/ be able to".02br
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00I know how to chose "could" /"be able to" for the activity in the past.02br
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00But how to decide between "can" and "be able to" for the present tense like (1).0-
  

Top answer

0I'd say "can", but I don't really see the logical relationship between both parts of the sentence... 050010id7

— Pieanne

  • 0I'd say "can", but I don't really see the logical relationship between both parts of the sentence...
  • 050010id7
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7 Answers
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0I'd say "can", but I don't really see the logical relationship between both parts of the sentence... 050010id7
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0 Hello 02br
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00I think we can use "be able to do" and "can do" both in the sense of "be capable of doing". So "I am able to speak three languages" and "I can speak three languages" are the same. But "can do" is different from "be able to do" in that it can carry the senses of "possibility" and "permission" as well. So "we can swim here" is OK in most contexts but "we are
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0 01i00can02i00 can be used to assign a role. 01i00is able to02i00 cannot be used in that way.02br
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01i00 Mary can bring the plates; John can bring the food; Susan can be cook; George can provide the place. And we'll have a big party!02i02br
00 (None of these can use 01i00is able to0
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0 01blockquote
01cite10CalifJim12cite11i10can12i10 can be used to assign a role. 11i10is able to12i10 cannot be used in that way.12br
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11i10Mary can bring the plates; John can bring the food; Susan can be cook; George can provide the place. And we'll have a big party!12i
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0 Paco,02br
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00 No. I don't think so. 01i00the02i00 can be omitted for roles.02br
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01i00Ram can be driver. Paul can be band leader. Ellen can be seamstress. Susan can be cook.02i02br
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00 Add 01i00the02i00to all of them if you wish! 05002br
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0 I thought you made a typo because you had loved parallelism. But it seems this time you intentionally avoided parallelism. 02br
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00paco 0-
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0After talking about roles, I realized that the only obvious role I had in that grouping was 'cook'. The others were all roles by inference. I had to include at least one direct example of a role! 05000 (As you say, parallelism went out the window at that point as I was in a hurry at the time.)010id1
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