English grammar for university students. Part 3. Учебное пособие

He said he could help us with the task.

I will be able to finish this tomorrow.

I haven’t been able to solve this problem yet.

Can expresses ability, possibility, permission, request, offer, suggestion, reproach, impossibility, doubt or surprise.

General ability

Can you play draughts?

Cheetahs can run very fast.

Their son could swim before he could talk.

We use can with the verbs of sense perception and mental activity to describe an action happening now.

I can smell something delicious.

I can't believe you are saying this!

But: we use was/were able, not could, to render the idea of achievement in the past rather than general ability.

Negative form of can (couldn’t) can also render this meaning.

Mary was able to swim to the rock and save the child. However, she couldn’t (wasn’t able) to save the dog.

Could+Perfect Infinitive is used to express hypothetical ability that belongs to the past.

61

If she hadn’t studied grammar hard, she couldn’t have passed the exam so well.

Possibility

a) general possibility of something happening

The temperature can sometimes reach 35°C in July.

Local accents can be confusing.

b) of a specific event (usually could is used in this meaning)

Who could that be outside the office?

Mike is late. Could he be stuck in a traffic jam?

Jane is not here. She could have missed the train.

For a negative possibility in this case we use may not or might not. We cannot use can or could here.

I might not have time to come.

c) due to the existing laws

You can’t leave your bicycle here.

You can marry in this country when you are eighteen.

d) hypothetical possibility (could+Infinitive).

62

If you had come, we could have gone to the concert together. I wish you could be here with me now.

Permission (asking, granting, denying permission)

Can I borrow your dictionary? (asking)

Yes, you can. (granting)

No, you can’t. (denying)

The form could is more polite here.

Couldn’t we stay just a little bit longer? Please?

May is also used in the meaning of permission, but it is more formal and polite.

Request, offer, suggestion

Can you carry this for me?

Can I pour you some more tea?

You can/could borrow my car if you want.

Reproach when someone fails to do something we feel they should do or have done

Only could is used in this meaning

You could be more attentive to your friends and relatives.

You could have bought some bread when you went to the shop.

63

Impossibility (with the negative form of can only)

You can’t seriously think so! (Не может быть, что он действительно так думает!).

He can’t have finished it already (Не может быть, что он уже закончил).

Doubt or surprise (in questions)

Can he really be late?

How can you be so cruel!

N o t e. — The Russian negative-interrogative sentences of this type are rendered in English by complex sentences, or lexically.

Can it be that she has not read this book?

She can’t have failed to read this book.

Exercises

Exercise 1. Interview your groupmates about the following, then present to the group your findings about your groupmate’s present abilities (add a few more questions of your own the list):

-speak more than two languages;

-play chess;

-play a musical instrument;

-program a computer;

-right with both hands;

64

-have a good pitch;

-solve quadratic equations.

Exercise 2. Complete the sentences using could or couldn’t talking about your abilities.

When I was a baby I couldn’t …………., but now I can.

A year ago I couldn’t …………., but now I can.

When I was a child I …………., but now I can’t.

Now I can’t …………., but I will be able to do it in future.

Exercise 3. Use can, could or be able in a proper form to in the following sentences.

1. Watch me, I …………. ride a bicycle now! 2. We …………. finish the hockey match before it started to snow. 3. Videos …………. now be easily streamed online. 4. I was very busy at work, but I …………. take a couple of days-off. 5. He …………. to untie the ropes without the guard noticing. 6. I tried to get up, but I …………. move. 7. Would you like to have a game? Sorry, but I

………….play chess. 8. Once I'd got into the middle of the maze, I ………….

find my way out. 9. We drove all the way to Sutton to see Tim and Sue, but when we got there, we …………. remember their house number. 10. As I walked home through the heavy rain, all I …………. think of was a warm bath. 11. My grandfather has difficulty in walking and …………. walk upstairs any more. 12. I …………. drive now but next year I …………. drive. 13. I’ve never

………….remember his name. 14…………. you do the shopping in the evening? The fridge is empty. 15. …………. skate when you were six? 16. Peter has a computer that …………. fit into his jacket pocket. 17. I had some free time yesterday, so I…………. write a few letters. 18. From where we're standing, this land belongs to me for as far as you …………. see. 19. My teacher's given

65

me a translation to do for homework, but I …………. understand it. 20. “When's Megan's birthday?” “As far as I …………. remember, it's in June.” 21. When I was younger I was hopeless at sports. I …………. throw or kick a ball properly. 22. When she was the manager of the company she …………. take holidays when she wanted to. 23. In the 16th century, fishermen ………….

smuggle wine into the country without fear of being caught by the authorities. 24. Bennett …………. smuggle the knife on board the plane without being detected by the security system.

Exercise 4. State the meaning of the modal verb can. Translate the sentences into Russia.

1. I can’t say what it was, but the very first time I saw her, I knew she was the only one. 2. I felt my face was red, I stared at the words but I couldn’t read, I daren't look the smallest look. 3. You can’t trust workmen, they want to know everything. 4. Two sides of the garden there is a wall, and the rest is hedge you can’t see through. 5. Look, this is mad. If you love me in any real sense of the word love you can't want to keep me here. 6. You can see I'm miserable. The air, I can't breathe at nights, I've woken up with a headache. 7. But you can't kidnap people just to get to know them! 8. She smelt so nice I could have stood like that all the evening. 9. That night I cooked her a supper and she ate it and seemed to like it. After, I said, can I stay a bit? 10. I’ll tell you when you can go away, but only on certain conditions. 11. Funny, sometimes you knew she couldn't be lying. 12. I've washed some things. Can I hang them out? Or is there a laundry? 13. There’s a pain in my lung when I breathe, and I keep on thinking of pneumonia. But it can’t be. 14. Just because you can't express your feelings it doesn't mean they're not deep. 15. He can't have spotted from behind who we were, he was simply going the same way. 16. How can he love me? How can you love someone you don’t know? 17. It can’t be understood. It just is. 18.

66

You could have told us to go away. We would have understood. 19. He smiled and I couldn't look as if I didn't care, which made it worse. 20. Then he said: “I've missed you”. I said: “You can't have”. 21. If he really loved me he could- n't have sent me away. 22. If there is a God he’s a great loathsome spider in the darkness. He cannot be good. 23. It’s not too late. We could be friends. I could help you. 24. Suddenly she said: “Couldn't we go for a walk?” 25. He has to get a doctor. He can't just let me die.

(Источники: Fowles, 1963; Murdoch, 1973; Setterfield, 2006)

Exercise 5. Translate the sentences from Russian into English.

1. Можно взглянуть на этот документ, инспектор? - Боюсь, что нет. Это секретная информация. 2. Я, может быть, совершаю ошибку, но я не вижу другого решения проблемы. 5. Он сказал нам, что мы можем прийти в любой удобный для нас день. 8. Ребенок поинтересовался, можно ли ему посмотреть еще два мультика. 9. Не может быть, чтобы он опоздал. Застрял, наверное, где-нибудь в автомобильной пробке. 10. Она решила, что может воспользоваться машиной отца. 11. Она может быть очень милой, если захочет. 12. Там было так душно, что мы едва могли дышать. 13. Почему ты не можешь признать, что был неправ? 14. Можно покрасить волосы в вашей парикмахерской? 15. Вы сможете доказать его невиновность? 16. Неужели это действительно был Уолтер? Не может быть, чтобы он ушел из лаборатории до 5.

MAY

The verb may has two forms: may for the Present and might for the Past. The expressions to be allowed and to be permitted can be used to supply the missing forms of the verb may.

67

May expresses permission, suggestion, possibility, reproach.

Permission in formal situations (asking, granting and denying permission).

May I use one of the phones?

Yes, children, you may have a cookie after dinner.

You may not go out.

Might is used only to ask for permission

Might I take the book?

To be allowed and to be permitted are also used in this communicative function.

No one has been allowed to see the test results.

May expressing permission is used only with the Indefinite Infinitive. Here we must observe the difference in the expression of permission and prohibition. Whereas the former is always expressed by may, the latter has other ways of expression besides may not. Very often the negative answer to the question containing a request for permission is don’t or must not.

May I read the letter?

No, don’t, please.

Don’t is less strict than may not, it is rather asking somebody not to do something than actually prohibiting something, which is expressed by may not.

68

Must not means that it is not the person who prohibits the action, but that there are facts, rules, or circumstances prohibiting it.

You must not smoke here.

Polite suggestion or advice

You might want to go to Science Museum when you are in London.

Possibility

Peppers may be green, yellow and red.

Malcolm isn't in his office. He may/might be working at home today.

A hundred years ago people might spend the whole life in their native town. He said he might be late.

Perhaps she is still at home. She might not have got our message.

There is often little difference in meaning between may and might, but might can suggest that there is less possibility.

We don't use may to ask questions about the possibility of something happening. Instead we use, for example, could(n't) or the phrase be likely:

Could it be that you don't want to leave?

It is possible to use might in this type of question, but it is rather formal.

Might they be persuaded to change their minds?

69

May is often found in formal written style to speak about the characteristics of objects and processes.

There may be 3000 eggs in a clump of frog spawn.

We use might/could + Perfect Infinitive to say that something was possible in the past, but we know that it did not in fact happen (unrealized possibility).

The plan might/could easily have gone wrong, but in fact it was a great success.

We use may/might as well to say there is no reason for not doing something. Usually because we are disappointed.

There is no point waiting for the bus. We may as well walk home.

Reproach and irritation at someone’s not doing or having done something

Only might is used in this meaning but not may.

When might is used with the Indefinite Infinitive it is rather a request made in the tone of a reproach. When it is used with the Perfect Infinitive, it expresses reproach.

At least you might phone your parents more often.

You might have knocked before entering the room!

70