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Perfect Stranger Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Grammar question no. 48 - be able to
Dear All,
I've got a question concerning expressing abilities. For some reason, the following sentences sound a bit awkward to me but perhaps to you they'll sound just fine.
I used to be able to sleep early.
I used to be able to cook for my parents.
I used to be able to travel a lot.
First of all, are these sentences really talking about abilities? For some reason they don't sound to me like that. The first two sentences are really awkward to my ear. The third one seems to be OK but is being able to travel an ability?
I'm looking forward to all your comments.
Thanks
I've got a question concerning expressing abilities. For some reason, the following sentences sound a bit awkward to me but perhaps to you they'll sound just fine.
I used to be able to sleep early.
I used to be able to cook for my parents.
I used to be able to travel a lot.
First of all, are these sentences really talking about abilities? For some reason they don't sound to me like that. The first two sentences are really awkward to my ear. The third one seems to be OK but is being able to travel an ability?
I'm looking forward to all your comments.
Thanks
Top answer
Hi, I think there's nothing wrong with the sentences you wrote. In your sentences, the 'used to' describes your habit (something that you always or usually did, but no longer do) in the past and 'be able to' describes your ability to sleep early, to cook for your parents and to travel a lot. Let's take your first sentence: I used to be able to sleep early.
- Hi, I think there's nothing wrong with the sentences you wrote.
- In your sentences, the 'used to' describes your habit (something that you always or usually did, but no longer do) in the past and 'be able to' describes your ability to sleep early, to cook for your parents and to travel a lot.
- Let's take your first sentence: I used to be able to sleep early.
- (here, used to and be able to describes two different things, one your habit and the other your ability.
- ) The same applies to your other sentences as well.
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4 Answers
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Hi,
I think there's nothing wrong with the sentences you wrote. In your sentences, the 'used to' describes your habit (something that you always or usually did, but no longer do) in the past and 'be able to' describes your ability to sleep early, to cook for your parents and to travel a lot.
Let's take your first sentence:
I used to be able to sleep early. (here,
I think there's nothing wrong with the sentences you wrote. In your sentences, the 'used to' describes your habit (something that you always or usually did, but no longer do) in the past and 'be able to' describes your ability to sleep early, to cook for your parents and to travel a lot.
Let's take your first sentence:
I used to be able to sleep early. (here,
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Thanks Laborious,
The thing I'm driving at is that it seems somewhat weird to me that someone might have been able to sleep early. A sentence like I used to sleep early or I used to go to bed early sounds OK but I used to be able to sleep early doesn't sound good to my ear because I don't really know if we can consider going to bed early as abilit
The thing I'm driving at is that it seems somewhat weird to me that someone might have been able to sleep early. A sentence like I used to sleep early or I used to go to bed early sounds OK but I used to be able to sleep early doesn't sound good to my ear because I don't really know if we can consider going to bed early as abilit
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Dear Perfect Stranger, I think, now I understand your point here. But I can't explain for what real reason those sentences don't sound wrong or awkward to me. I think I've heard 'used to' with 'be able to' many times.
In my view, "I used to be able to sleep early" is more or less the same as "it used to be possible for me to sleep early".
In my view, "I used to be able to sleep early" is more or less the same as "it used to be possible for me to sleep early".
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Perfect StrangerThe thing I'm driving at is that it seems somewhat weird to me that someone might have been able to sleep early. A sentence like I used to sleep early or I used to go to bed early sounds OK but I used to be able to sleep early doesn't sound good to my ear because I don't really know if we can consider going to bed early as ability... Not like swimming or p
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