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Viceidol Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Could/Can it rain this afternoon?←Is this correct?
One of my grammar book says "can" and "could" cannot be used in questions about deduction of future.
For instance, the following sentences are considered incorrect by my book:
What do you think of that? Please give me your opinion, thank you very much!
For instance, the following sentences are considered incorrect by my book:
Could/Can it rain this afternoon?
Could/Can we go swimming tomorrow?
My books say if we want to raise questions about deduction of future, we should say them this way:Is it likely to rain this afternoon?
Is it likely that we will go swimming tomorrow? / Are we likely to go swimming tomorrow?
I admit that the ones using "likely" are better, but could it be considered "wrong" to use Could/Can?What do you think of that? Please give me your opinion, thank you very much!
Top answer
" sounds quite odd, but "Can we go swimming tomorrow" is just fine! You're asking for permission or to make arrangements to do this. Do you think it will rain this afternoon?
- " sounds quite odd, but "Can we go swimming tomorrow" is just fine!
- You're asking for permission or to make arrangements to do this.
- Do you think it will rain this afternoon?
- Does it look like rain this afternoon?
- )
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1 Answers
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I agree that "Can it rain this afternooon?" sounds quite odd, but "Can we go swimming tomorrow" is just fine! You're asking for permission or to make arrangements to do this.
Do you think it will rain this afternoon? Does it look like rain this afternoon? (The likely one is grammatically okay, but doesn't sound natural.)
Do you think it will rain this afternoon? Does it look like rain this afternoon? (The likely one is grammatically okay, but doesn't sound natural.)
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