December 03, 2020 PreAdv Page 1 Tamara Goushchina

Class activities
1. Warming-up: Marriage can’t be forever in a modern society. Arguments
for/against
2. Grammar. Comparing. Practice: NavigateC1, CB, GR 1.1, Notes, Ex 1, 2,
p142
3. Grammar. Modal verbs. Ability. Notes, Task I
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Function Ability
can, could, be able to
1. Present
1) She can speak Spanish but she can’t speak French.
2) Despite his handicap he is able to drive a car.
(the present ability is surprising or involves overcoming some
difficulty)

2. Future
3) Will I be able to speak fluent French by the end of the course?
Compare:
4) I can provide training on C++ next Friday.(я знаю C++)
5) I will be able to provide training on C++ next Friday.(надо
просмотреть конспекты по С++, я подзабыл)
3. Be able to where can/could is grammatically impossible
6) I haven’t been able to drive since I dislocated my wrist. (Perfect)
7) We love being able to talk the local language. (Continuous)

4. Can (present) and could (past) before sense verbs

8) I can smell something burning in the kitchen.
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5. Past
9) Mozart could play the piano at the age of five.
10) Peter’s car broke down but fortunately he was able to repair it.
(to describe the successful use of an ability on a specific occasion)
But:
11) Could you fix the computer yourself? - No, I could only back up
the key files. (отрицательное предложение и есть only)
12) She was so exhausted she could hardly speak.
13) Mozart couldn’t speak French.
14) Despite being a mechanic, Peter couldn’t fix his car when it broke
down yesterday.
(couldn’t or was/were not able to to describe a lack of ability
or success)

6. Could have + past participle to describe a past ability which wasn’t

used
15) She could have paid by credit card but she preferred to use cash.
16) You could have told me about the party. (to make a criticism)

7. not be able to = be unable (formal English)

8. Manage to to emphasise the difficulty or to suggest a great effort

(in the present, past or future)

17) Do you think she’ll manage to get a visa?

I Are the sentences OK?

1. The job interview was a disaster; I could only answer half the questions.
2. Yesterday I could leave (have left) work earlier – I got permission from
my boss.
3. These days she is rather slow but as a child she could run like the wind.
4. When I finish the course next year I can speak perfect Italian.
5. It’s really annoying. Surely you knew they didn’t accept traveller’s
cheques at that hotel. You could warn me before I left.
6. We took an exam yesterday and I couldn’t answer any of the questions.
7. We can have gone up the Eiffel Tower while we were in Paris, but we
decided to go to the Louvre instead.
8. I can give you a hand tomorrow morning, if you want.
9. Thankfully, we could get to the airport just in time so we didn’t miss
the plane.
10. Kate couldn’t go to the barbecue as she had to work.
11. I’m afraid we can’t come to the wedding after all.
12. I’m afraid we won’t be able to come to the wedding after all.
13. I wish I can speak Russian, then I could read Tolstoy in the original.