English Grammar with Kudjo. Part 4. Понятная и забавная грамматика для детей и взрослых

We cannot usually usebe able to with a passive:

This road can be used to cut the distance. (not:

EXERCISE 1

Choose the correct form (in two sentences both options are possible):

1 Listen! Our kitten is able to /can bark now! When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

2 Are you able to / Can you look for Kit? I haven’t seen him since the morning.

3 The dogs have been looking for Kit but he can’t / isn’t able to be found anywhere.

4 The dogs can’t /aren’t able to see their kitten anywhere, which makes them worried a lot.

5 The kitten can’t / isn’t able to live on his own. He is too little.

6 Who do you think they can /are able to find first: Kudjo or Kit?

Fixed phrases with the verb can:

Can is used with some verbs to create idiomatic expressions widely used by native English speakers:

1. can’t wait – to be excited about something

Ex: Cuba can’t wait to see her French friends soon.

2. can’t stand – to strongly dislike something

Ex: Chilly can’t stand cats in Lion.

3. can’t bear – to strongly dislike something because it makes you unhappy

Ex: Luna can’t bear to be away from Kudjo longer than a week.

4. can’t take it – cannot tolerate something

Ex: Luna can’t take her parents’ control anymore.

5. can’t be bothered – to have no interest in something

Ex: Luna knows she should be home now but she can’t be bothered.

6. can’t win – life is difficult

Ex: Sometimes no matter what you do in life, you can’t win.

7. can’t help it – to have no control over something

Ex: Cuba can’t help it, she finds cheese irresistible!

8.Can you imagine? – it is amazing

Ex: Dogs can have a kitten as a pet. Can you imagine?

9. No can do. – it cannot be done. It’s impossible.

Ex: Chilly refused to do it, he wanted to help, though. No can do.

10. What can I say? – I have no comment right now.

Ex: Everybody is shocked. What can they say?

11. Can it! – Shut up!

Ex: Luna can’t stand the words «Can it!»

12. as can be – as much as possible

Ex: The dogs were sure that everything would be fine with Kudjo. He is as smart as can be.

EXERCISE 2

Put one of these fixed expressions in the gaps:

1 The friends ***** worrying about Kudjo and Kit.

2 They have been trying very hard to find them but *****.

3 Meanwhile, the cats are trying to put out the fire as hard *****.

4 They have just managed to extinguish it without any firefighters. *****?

5 The wall is black with grime but the window is open now. *****?

6 To make things worse, Chilly has caught a cold. If only he would take medicine! But he *****.

PAST ABILITY

To talk about ability in the past, we use could/couldn’t or was/wasn’t/were/weren’t able to:

There are some situations when we tend to prefer one or the other.

1. Use be able to for a specific accomplishment (in contrast to general ability): Despite being a poor driver, Luna was able to park the car well.

Remember: If an action was realised or carried out in a particular situation in the past it is expressed with the help of was/were able to, but when could is used with reference to the past, it denotes only the ability or possibility of performing an action.

However, the negative couldn’t is possible in all situations.