💪 Grammar A2-15: can / can’t, could / couldn’t: consolidation
A1 taught the forms of can and could one at a time. This A2 consolidation teaches the choice. A four-question decision procedure runs through the whole material: am I describing or asking, is the ability now or then, who actually performs the action, and how careful do I need to be with this person. Three worked examples show the procedure running on real sentences, and a side-by-side comparison resolves the politeness pair Can you…? against the softer Could you…?, with a verdict that tells the learner which to pick when they are unsure. Thirty multiple-choice items, a ten-question sorter on who performs the action, six error corrections and three trap boxes drill the choice until it is automatic. Be able to appears only as far as A2 needs it: after will, after to, and in the fixed was able to for one past success.
Lesson Plan
- Two words doing three jobs: ability, permission, request
- The two pattern strips: Rosa + can + climb / Could + you + hold?
- A table of the three jobs and the question behind each one
Key Vocabulary
Grammar Points
- subject + can / could + plain verb — no -s, no to, no do / does / did
- can / can’t for ability now; could / couldn’t for ability in a finished past time
- Can I…? / Could I…? asks permission for your own action; Can you…? / Could you…? asks another person to act
- could as politeness, not past time, in a question aimed at another person
- will be able to and to be able to fill the shapes can does not have
- was / were able to for one difficult thing somebody managed on one occasion
