Hello learners!!
We are back after a long vacation right! And we continuing
our grammar learning progress further with deeper understanding of Modals in
this week. We took break because I had my big engineering examination waiting
for me and now it’s over; so, I promise you to provide regular content.
I have already taught you the introduction and phrasal modal
part of learning Modals. It is recommended to visit first; then encounter this
post. There we coherently described what are the modals and what they do. In
this part we further learn the deferent types of Modals—in particular ability
and disability showing modals.
As usual we take live example from the quote by the United States’
26th president Theodore Roosevelt Jr. he was recognised as one of
the five best presidents with George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln etc. He was
a leader of Republican party. Also, severed as vice president before becoming
president.
 |
| Ability Modals Example by Quote |
“Believe you can and you’re half a way there” – Theodore
Roosevelt
Grammar point: 2.1 Ability Modals (Can, Could and Be able to):
Use:
These modal verbs are used to show ability in English. i.e.
--I can
run fast.
·
In present and future:
Sarah can drive bicycle.
Sarah is able to drive bicycle. (Phrasal Modal)
As we know from earlier lessons there is a main verb in the
sentence and Modal (can) is helping the verb. If you identify “drive” as a main
verb, then you are correct.
Here, both the sentence means the same thing Sarah’s ability
to drive bicycle, but the structure of second sentence (Sarah is able
to drive bicycle.) will change according to the subject type.
Structure:
Modal: can
Any Subject + can + Main
verb
|
Any Subject + cannot(cant)
+ Main verb (Negative)
|
Modal: be able to
I + am able to + Main verb
|
You/We/They + are able to
+ Main verb
|
He/She/It + is able to +
Main verb
|
Negative:
I + am not able to + Main
verb
|
You/We/They + are not able
to + Main verb
|
He/She/It + is not able to
+ Main verb
|
·
In the past
- Before accident Jane could drive herself but now cannot.
- Before accident Jane was able to drive herself but now cannot.
‘Could’ used to talk about abilities in the past.
Structure:
Modal: could
Any Subject + could + Main
verb
|
Any Subject + could not ( couldn’t) + Main verb (Negative)
|
Modal: be able to
You/We/They + were able to
+ Main verb
|
I/He/She/It + was able to
+ Main verb
|
Negative:
You/We/They + were not
able to + Main verb
|
I/He/She/It + was not able
to + Main verb
|
According our example: “Believe you can and you’re half a way
there” – Theodore Roosevelt
More Examples:
1) Anju can
do several task at a time.
2) Amin’s
smartphone couldn’t can app. Its memory is full.
3) We are
able to write essay.
Second, we have a live example from internet error you may sometimes
faced the same problem and the message popped up may show below reflects the disability
of search engine to find the site address.
“This site can’t be reached”
 |
| Learing Disability modal |
Grammar point: 2.2) Disability modals
(Inability modals):
These express impossibility or disbelief in the present.
Whereas, ‘can’t and couldn’t’ have the same meaning. “Can’t/ couldn’t” is
contracted form of “cannot/ could not.”
It usually used when someone is not 100% sure about it.
-Sentence structure:
Subject +
Can’t/ couldn’t + be + object.
|
More examples:
-It can’t be rain
today.
-It couldn’t be a
dress in the box.
Note: The negative of ability modal and inability modal are
not the same and their structure is also differing—keep it as note.
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Thank you for reading!
Stay tuned for new grammar points.
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