Can/am able, could/was able A can and be able

1 shall/will be able is the only future form:

Our baby will be able to walk in a few weeks.

2 Either can or am able may be used in the present, can is the more usual:

Can you/Are you able to type?

I can't pay you today. Can you wait till tomorrow? or

Could you wait? (request; see B2 below)

3 For the present perfect, however, we must use the be able form:

Since his accident he hasn't been able to leave the house.

B could

1 could can be used with a present meaning when there is an idea of condition:

Could you run the business by yourself? (if this was necessary) Could he get another job? (if he left this one) /

could get you a copy, (if you want one) In the first two examples could is replaceable by would be able.

2 could you? is a very good way of introducing a request. It is an alternative to would you? and a little more polite:

Could you show me the way/lend me £5/wait half an hour? Could you please send me an application form?

couldn't you? is also useful:

HOUSEHOLDER: Could you come and mend a leak in a pipe? PLUMBER: Would sometime next month suit you? HOUSEHOLDER: Couldn't you come a little earlier?

C could and was able used for past ability

1 For ability only, either can be used:

When I was young I could/was able to climb any tree in the forest.

2 For ability + particular action, use was able:

Although the pilot was badly hurt he was able to explain what had happened. (He could and did explain.)

The boat capsized quite near the bank so the children were able to swim to safety. (They could and did swim.)

This rule, however, is relaxed in the negative when the action did not take place, and with verbs of the senses:

He read the message but he couldn 't/ivasn 't able to understand it. I could/was able to see him through the window.

D had been able is the past perfect form:

He said he had lost his passport and hadn 't been able to leave the country.

(For could in reported speech, see 312.)

138 could + perfect infinitive

A This form is used for past ability when the action was not performed:

/ could have lent you the money. Why didn 't you ask me?

(see also 154) or when we don't know whether it was performed or not:

The money has disappeared! Who could have taken it?

Tom could have (taken it); he was here alone yesterday. Compare:

He was able to send a message. (He sent it.)

He could have sent a message. (He didn't send it or we don't know whether he sent it or not. See also 135.)

B could + perfect infinitive can also express irritation at or reproach for the non-performance of an action:

You could have told me =

I am annoyed/disappointed that you didn't tell me. You should have told me. There would be a strong stress on the word the speaker wishes to emphasize.

(For might used in the same way, see 285.)

14 ought, should, must, have to, need for obligation

139 ought: forms

ought is a modal verb (see 107 B).

The same form can be used for present and future and for the past when preceded by a verb in a past tense or followed by a perfect infinitive:

/ ought to write to him today/tomorrow. I knew I ought to write to him.

She said I ought to write.

I know/knew that I ought to have written. Negative: ought not/oughtn't Interrogative: ought I? etc.

Negative interrogative: ought I not/oughtn't I? etc. ought takes the full infinitive, and to remind students of this, it is sometimes referred to as ought to.

Questions or remarks with ought may be answyered by should and vice versa:

You ought to put in central heating. ~ Yes, I suppose I should.

140 should: forms

should is also a modal verb.

Like ought, the same form can be used for present and future and for the past when preceded by a verb in a past tense, should could replace ought to in the above examples.

Negative: should not/shouldn't

Interrogative: should I? etc.

Negative interrogative: should I not/shouldn't I? etc.

should is followed by the bare infinitive.

should and ought, used for obligation, normally have the same meaning but should is the more usual form.

In conversation should/ought to can often be used alone, the infinitive being understood but not mentioned:

You should paint/ought to paint your door. ~ Yes, I know I should/ I know I ought to.

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