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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Vocabulary

can/be able to

0Guys,02br
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00Got into a heated discussion today on the meanings on "can" and "be able to".02br
00As far as I'm concerned, there isn't much difference between these things - as dictionaries bring. However, someone asked a tricky question that got me confused...02br
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00How would you distinguish "having ability or permission" from "having competence for".02br
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00If I say, for example: "I wasn't able to arrive on time last night" e "I couldn't arrive on time last night", is there a difference? Would you say one conveys the meaning of "impossibility" while the other means "I wasn't competent enough to get there" - maybe the road wasn't good, I had no map or I got lost...? Help me out!!!02br
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00Or "I can't play tennis" and "I'm not able to play tennis". (as if in the 1st case the person does not have talent for it, while in the second he isn't able cause he's never tried???) Geez, I'm confused!02br
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00I never thought there was a difference, but now I've got my brain "twisted"!02br
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00Thanks for your help, y'all!0-
  

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5 Answers
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0Hi - 02br
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00I don't really see a difference in 95% of the times you'd use them, and if you did need to emphasize some aspect of being physically prevented versus lacking the innate ability, you can add supporting words.02br
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00Because I have a broken ankle and a stick shift, I couldn't drive there last night.02br
00Because I had a pan
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0Yeah, in fact I can't see any difference at all either. But my students just got so passionate about the fact that "there must be a clear difference", that they made me wonder.02br
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00That happened cause this difference does exist in Portuguese, our native language.02br
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00Let's see what other linguists have to say... Thanks!0-
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0 Pick some of these threads for more commentary:02br
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0500260hrefhttp://www.EnglishForward.com/search/can be able.htm
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01cite10Anonymous12cite10Yeah, in fact I can't see any difference at all either. 10But my students just got so passionate about the fact that "there must be a clear difference", 10that they made me wonder.12br
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10That happened cause this difference does exist in Portuguese, our native language.12br
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0How would you distinguish "having ability or permission" from "having competence for".02br
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01font00Having ability and having competence both mean the same thing. Having permission is unrelated because it means being allowed to do something regardless of whether or not you have the ability/competence. So, whilst you may have permission to play
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