When I was younger, I could play the piano a lot better than I
can now. You know, I'm glad I was able to tell you that
knowing modal verbs like can and be able to is not only important for your
everyday English conversation, but using this grammar correctly, we'll give you an edge
in English exams like ailets tofol and took. Let's check it out. Welcome
to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from New York City. And
here's your English teacher, Michael. All right, thank you John, and
thanks everyone. It's Michael here from Happy English and I help people speak English
better. This is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven fourteen, Ability and Possibility.
A lot of my students who are preparing for exams like ailts and tok
often ask me for help with modal verbs. Modal verbs, Eh, there
are a lot of them, and that makes for a pretty wide topic.
Since modal verbs are such an important part of English. Let's have a look,
shall we. Today we'll dive into the different ways we talk about ability
and possibility with can, could, and be able to. Let's look at
can first. Can has a more conversational feel and has the nuance of I
know how to do that, or I'm available to do that. For example,
I can play the piano. In other words, I know how to
play the piano. I can help you with that project. In other words,
I'm available to help you. I think can is one of the more
basic modal verbs that we use in these situations. Of course, in a
negative sentence, cannot or can't means I don't know how to do that,
or I'm not available to do that. For example, the boss can't use
this software, maybe he doesn't know how. Jack can't come to the party,
maybe he's not available. On the other hand, be able to is
more formal sounding and has the nuance of I can do that because I'm in
the right situation or the right circumstances to do that. When we use be
able to, we often provide more information than we do when we use can.
Let's look at an example. I have a piano at home now,
so I am able to play the piano anytime I want to. If we
compare this to I can play the piano. I can play the piano simply
means I know how to do it, that's all. But I am able
to play the piano anytime I want because I have a piano at home now.
The circumstance of having a piano at home gives me the ability to play
the piano anytime I want. Here's another example. If you need help with
your project, I'm not very busy this week, so I'm able to help
you. Speaking of ability, would you like to be able to improve your
score on the Ailets Exam, I'd like to recommend the Ailets Energy Podcast.
Taking Ailts want to make sure you are one hundred percent ready to score your
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hosts Ailet's Energy with Aubrey Carter, The Ailets Whiz from a former examiner's perspective.
You'll learn the smartest strategies to score seven or higher on every session of
the test. Plus they have two episodes each week. This week's lessons are
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three Ailts listening traps that you must avoid. Follow the Ailets Energy Podcast.
Just type Ailt's Energy into your search bar in your favorite listening app and he
follow by the way. In a negative sentence, you can use be not
able to or be unable to. For example, we don't have the item
in stock, so we are not able to ship this order. The boss
is unable to attend the conference on Thursday. Next, let's get into talking
about ability that started in the past and continues to the present. In cases
like this, you can use have been able to or haven't been able to,
or have been unable to. There's no way to use can or could
in this situation. For example, I've been able to make myself understood in
a second language for a while. Now, I haven't been able to find
a good pizza shop near my new apartment. I've been unable to reach Tommy
since last Friday. I hope he's okay. In a similar way, when
you use verbs related to emotions like enjoy, like, hate, and and
so on, you can use be able to, but not can or could.
Here are some examples. I enjoy being able to have this nice view
from my window. Fred is an uber driver. He said he loves being
able to choose his own hours to work. Next, let's talk about the
difference between using be able to and could to talk about the past. When
you talk about possibility in one situation in the past, you need to use
be able to. For example, I was able to find Jack's new apartment
without any trouble. Were you able to get tickets for the concert? So
use be able to or was able to when you talk about possibility in one
situation in the past. But on the other hand, when you talk talk
about what was usually possible in the past and not just one situation, you
need to use could. For example, when Jenny was younger, she could
eat a lot more than she eats now. I remember my grandfather could play
the piano and the saxophone. Keep in mind, the best way to remember
this and any other word or phrase in English is to take that word or
phrase, write it in a sentence that's true for you or true in your
world, and then memorize your sentences. By the way, Can you imagine
getting the chance to practice this kind of English with me directly? You can
get more practice using your English when you join my podcast Learner's Study Group.
There you can make new friends, join us for live coaching every week where
we practice these podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to the PDF,
transcript and audio download for every Happy English podcast in the past and in the
future. And on top of that, each episode has exercises where you can
practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more
or to see some of the example sentences from this lesson, just visit Myhappy
English dot com and choose podcast lesson seven fourteen. Remember learning another language is
not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on
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