{"id":11612,"date":"2020-01-31T06:47:44","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T05:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?p=11612"},"modified":"2021-10-11T09:24:44","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T07:24:44","slug":"modals-can-cant-could-couldnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2020\/01\/modals-can-cant-could-couldnt\/","title":{"rendered":"Modals: can\/can\u2019t\/could\/couldn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Level: Beginner-Intermediate<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">We use <strong>CAN<\/strong> to make general statements about what is possible:<\/span><br> Example:<br> It can be very hot here in summer. (= It is sometimes very hot here in summer.)<br> You can easily get lost in this city. (= People often get lost in this city.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">We also use <strong>CAN<\/strong> and <strong>CAN&#8217;T<\/strong> to talk about someone&#8217;s skill or general abilities:<\/span><br> Example:<br> He can speak two languages.<br> She can dance.<br> She can&#8217;t swim very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-pale-cyan-blue-background-color\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">We use <strong>COULD<\/strong> to show that something is possible, but not certain:<\/span><br> Example: <br> They could come by bus. (= Maybe they will come by bus.)<br> They could be at school. (= Maybe they are at school.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-pale-cyan-blue-background-color\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">We also use <strong>COULD<\/strong> to mean that we were able to do something in the past.<\/span><br> Example:<br> When she was 1, she could talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-pale-cyan-blue-background-color\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">We use <strong>COULDN&#8217;T<\/strong> to mean that we weren&#8217;t able to do something in the past.<\/span><br> Example:<br> When he was 1, he couldn&#8217;t walk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Level: Beginner-Intermediate We use CAN to make general statements about what is possible: Example: It can be very hot here in summer. (= It is sometimes very hot here in summer.) You can easily get lost in this city. (= People often get lost in this city.) We also use CAN and CAN&#8217;T to talk [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[5565],"class_list":["post-11612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar","tag-modals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Modals: can\/can\u2019t\/could\/couldn\u2019t | phone english blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2020\/01\/modals-can-cant-could-couldnt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Modals: can\/can\u2019t\/could\/couldn\u2019t | phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Level: Beginner-Intermediate We use CAN to make general statements about what is possible: Example: It can be very hot here in summer. (= It is sometimes very hot here in summer.) You can easily get lost in this city. (= People often get lost in this city.) We also use CAN and CAN&#8217;T to talk [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2020\/01\/modals-can-cant-could-couldnt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/phoneenglish.es\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-31T05:47:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-11T07:24:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@phoneenglishes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@phoneenglishes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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