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Stevenukd Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

SPAGHETTI

Dear Teachers

1. I'm really crave for spaghetti now. I can eat three plates of spaghetti within 5 minutes.

- Is this natural to say?

Thanks very much to Teachers,

Stevenukd.
  

Top answer

I've really got a craving for spaghetti now. I could eat three plates in five minutes! CJ

— CalifJim

  • I've really got a craving for spaghetti now.
  • I could eat three plates in five minutes!
  • CJ
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5 Answers
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I've really got a craving for spaghetti now. I could eat three plates in five minutes!

CJ
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CalifJimI've really got a craving for spaghetti now. I could eat three plates in five minutes!

CJ

Hi CJ

I could eat three plates in five minutes!

Would it be wrong if 'can' is used instead of 'could'? If so, what if the difference?

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I can eat three plates in five minutes! This is definitely my capability/ability.
I could eat three plates in five minutes! In some hypothetical situation, I (can) imagine myself eating three plates in five minutes!
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Marius HancuI can eat three plates in five minutes! This is definitely my capability/ability.
I could eat three plates in five minutes! In some hypothetical situation, I (can) imagine myself eating three plates in five minutes!
Hi Mari
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can is not grammatically wrong in the isolated sentence I can eat three plates (of spaghetti) in five minutes.

However, it's semantically strange in the context I imagined the poster wanted to set up.

A typical utterance, for example, when a person is very hungry is I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!
Based on that well known pattern, I think the poster wa
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