DISCUSS

 HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM WORKING OR FROM FORMAL STUDIES?

 WHAT’S BETTER EXPERIENCE OR FORMAL LEARNING?
 GRAMMAR
COULD, WAS ABLE TO, MANAGE TO, SUCEED IN
FORM

COULD VERB She could swim when she was young

We managed to get a really good price on

WAS / WERE ABLE VERB the car.
TO

After two hours we managed to reach the

MANAGE TO VERB
top.

SUCCED IN VERN ING We succeded in finding a hotel.

COULD + BASE FORM

To talk about general abilities. These are skills or

talents a person once had. In the past tense

 He could dance very well when he was in school.

 By the time he was two, Guillermo couldn’t read
and write.
WAS / WERE ABLE TO

To talk about a particular situation or

achievement.

 She was able to find the route for her house

 They weren’t able to finish the journey.
 Were you able to get good Price on the car?
WAS / WERE ABLE TO

To say that we are able to cope with a difficult

situation or find time for a particular task with
effort.

 It was very icy, but I managed to keep the car on the road.
 She didn't really want to go to Mexico, but Tony managed to
persuade her somehow.
 They worked on it for months but they didn’t succeded in
finding a solution.
 We use MANAGE TO only with people or living
things

 The plant managed to grow with no light.

 The car managed to accelerate.
 We often use expresión such as FINALLY or IN THE END
with manage to and succeed in to emphazise that the
activity was an effort.

 I finally managed to pass the test

 In the end, we succeded in becoming a doctor.
 As a teenager, Sylvia managed to / could already speak
three languages.
 Were you able to / Could you take in all that information at
the lecture yesterday?
 I didn’t manage to / wasn’t able to drive two years ago.
 Fran couldn’t / didn’t manage to take the exam as she was
ill that day.
 We finally succeeded to find / in finding our way back to
the village.
 In the end, I could store / managed to store all the files in a
separate folder on my hard disk