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

Chilly couldn’t help Kudjo that night. = Chilly wasn’t able to help Kudjo that night.

In such situations we can substitute was/were able to with managed to or succeeded in: Cuba was able to persuade Luna.= Cuba managed to persuade Luna.= Cuba succeeded in persuading Luna.

2. Using could/couldn’t is more common than was able to for:

• verbs of the senses and of thinking (hear, see, smell, taste, feel, think, believe, remember, understand):It was pitch dark but Chilly could see that place.

• with the words almost, nearly and hardly: Chilly was so shocked that he could hardly speak.

It’s not wrong to use was ableto in these situations, it’s just a little less common.

EXERCISE 3

Complete the sentences using could or was/were able to in positive or negative forms:

1 After the cats put out the fire, Kit ***** get into the cellar.

2 It was pitch dark in the cellar, but Kit ***** see well (all cats can see perfectly in the dark).

3 Unfortunately, he ***** find what he had expected to.

4 He mewed hoping to attract the blue ball, but the answer was a deafening silence.The only sound Kit ***** hear was the sound of his own tail tapping on the floor.

5 He ***** hardly believe that all his efforts had led to naught.

6 Having looked for the blue ball everywhere, the kitten ***** find it and had to come back home without any good news.

To talk about ability in the future, we only have one option – will/won’t be able to.

The dogs won’t be able to do anything without Kudjo.

To sum up, we use be able to instead of can:

• after another modal verb (will/would/must/might/shall/should).

They might be able to find him in the forest.

• if we want to use an -ing form or a to-Infinitive.

They enjoy being able to share all their feelings with him.

They used to be able to fight for each other.

• if we want to use Perfect Tenses.

They haven’t been able to find either Kit or Kudjo yet.

EXERCISE 4

Put the correct form of be able to in the story about Kit’s abilities:

1 He didn’t use ***** climb trees when he was little.

2 Now he loves ***** climb up any heights.

3 He ***** just ***** reach a squirrel hollow, which frightened the squirrels a lot.

4 When he gets older, he ***** catch birds.

5 He wants ***** do something useful for Luna and other dogs.

6 If he were bigger and stronger, he would ***** find Kudjo.

EXERCISE 5

Fill the gaps in the story with missing words:

Disappointed and ***** Kit finally returned home, which made Luna ***** with joy. If only they could ***** Kudjo as well! The kitten explained that he had ***** to find the glowing blue ball to be able to look for Kudjo with its help. While ***** to Kit, Chilly remembered seeing the glowing blue light in front of Kudjo standing on the ***** motionless. Bingo! The kitten was absolutely right! If they can ***** the blue light ball, it will definitely ***** them to Kudjo! The dogs got so excited that they forgot one ***** thing – they still don’t know where to look for the ***** either. It’s time they worked out the strategy.

EXERCISE 6

Find and correct 6 mistakes in the sentences:

1 They have been trying to work out the strategy since yesterday and have just able to do it.

2 They remembered canning to see the glowing blue ball whenever they were in trouble or were about to get into trouble.

3 Chilly came up with the idea of provoking a difficult situation so that the ball could help appearing.

4 The idea sounded so brilliant that Chilly wished Kudjo can be proud of him.

5 The only thing they haven’t can to do yet is to decide what trouble to create for themselves.

6 Finally Luna managed setting up a «trap» for the ball.

EXERCISE 7

Choose the correct option:

1 Luna suggested getting lost in the forest but ***** which one.

a cannot to decide

b could not to decide

c couldn’t decide

2 The dogs ***** choose the place for a “trap” until Chilly put forward his plan.