something
Ex: Luna can’t take her parents’ control anymore.
5. can’t be bothered – to have no interest in something
Ex: Luna knows she should be home now but she can’t be bothered.
6. can’t win – life is difficult
Ex: Sometimes no matter what you do in life, you can’t win.
7. can’t help it – to have no control over something
Ex: Cuba can’t help it, she finds cheese irresistible!
8. Can you imagine? – it is amazing
Ex: Dogs can have a kitten as a pet. Can you imagine?
9. No can do. – it cannot be done. It’s impossible.
Ex: Chilly refused to do it, he wanted to help, though. No can do.
10. What can I say? – I have no comment right now.
Ex: Everybody is shocked. What can they say?
11. Can it! – Shut up!
Ex: Luna can’t stand the words «Can it!»
12. as can be – as much as possible
Ex: The dogs were sure that everything would be fine with Kudjo. He is as smart as can be.
EXERCISE 2
Put one of these fixed expressions in the gaps:
1 The friends ***** worrying about Kudjo and Kit.
2 They have been trying very hard to find them but *****.
3 Meanwhile, the cats are trying to put out the fire as hard *****.
4 They have just managed to extinguish it without any firefighters. *****?
5 The wall is black with grime but the window is open now. *****?
6 To make things worse, Chilly has caught a cold. If only he would take medicine! But he *****.
PAST ABILITY
To talk about ability in the past, we use could/couldn’t or was/wasn’t/were/weren’t able to:
There are some situations when we tend to prefer one or the other.
1. Use be able to for a specific accomplishment (in contrast to general ability): Despite being a poor driver, Luna was able to park the car well.
Remember: If an action was realised or carried out in a particular situation in the past it is expressed with the help of was/were able to, but when could is used with reference to the past, it denotes only the ability or possibility of performing an action.
However, the negative couldn’t is possible in all situations.
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 able to 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
