Could sentence examples
- What could he do about it but lose more sleep?
- I wish you could hear yourself talking.
- How could she blame him?
- I had let so much gas out of my balloon that I could not rise again, and in a few minutes the earth closed over my head.
- How could he find out?
- I never thought I could do it.
We sometimes use be able to instead of "can" or "could" for ability. Be able to is possible in all tenses - but "can" is possible only in the present and "could" is possible only in the past for ability. In addition, "can" and "could" have no infinitive form.
What question can you never honestly answer yes to? Are you asleep? (or dead, or conscious, or being silent). Are you asleep? (or dead, or conscious, or being silent).
I cannot play the piano. We can't go to the cinema tonight. She cannot speak French very well. He can't drive a car.
All modal verbs are auxiliary verbs, which means they can only be used with a main verb. Modal verbs cannot be a main verb. The modal verbs are; will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might and must.
Could: “Could” is used to express possibility. Something that could happen is not necessarily something that must happen. Could does not express desire or opinion. It is simply used to state one or more things that are possible (even if they are unlikely) or were possible in the past (even if they didn't happen).
Can is called a modal verb. It doesn't have all of the tenses that verbs usually have. It has the simple past tense could, but no past participle. When a past participle is needed, the expression be able to is used instead.
Considering the Why, Who, What, How, by Whom, When & Where and How it Went of every communication you initiate will give you the most useful level of understanding of how to answer all of these seven questions.
Check out this list of wh-
question examples, including who, what, when, where, why, which, and how.
Here are some examples of wh questions with what:
- What is it?
- What's this?
- What's that?
- What's your name?
- What's your last name?
- What's his name?
- What's her name?
- What day is it today?
Key Words That Make Direct Questions More Polite
- Excuse me, could you help me pick this up?
- Pardon me, could you help me?
- Pardon me, could you give me a hand?
- Could you explain this to me?
Sentences that ask a question are called
interrogative sentences.
Here are some examples of yes/no interrogative sentences:
- Mister, can you spare a dime?
- Did you take your vitamin this morning?
- Do you have your homework ready?
- Are you ready to go?
- Did you go to the game Friday night?
Creative Sentence Structures
- Begin with a verb ending with -ing.
- Begin with a verb ending with -ed.
- Begin with a prepositional phrase.
- Begin with an adverb.
- Begin with an adjective.
- Begin with a phrase that tells when.
- Begin with a phrase that tells where.
- Begin with an sound word.
A statement is a sentence that tells you something. A question is a sentence that asks you something. A statement does not require an answer. A question requires an answer.
How to Ask the Right Question in the Right Way
- Avoid asking rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question.
- Ask friendly, clarifying questions.
- Don't set traps.
- Ask open-ended questions.
- Be grateful.
- Avoid stress.
- Avoid being too direct.
- Silence is golden.
Begin your answer by rephrasing the essay question as a statement. The best way to start an essay answer is to rephrase the question in the form of a statement. Opening your essay in this way signals to the professor that you have read and understood the question.
In both cases the answer is not a work assignment ("you should do such and such") but yes or no. "Yes I can tell you" or "Yes I could tell you." Most likely if it is a polite question, "could" would probably be more appropriate, though they are used pretty much interchangeably in casual speech.
Use could for more polite form. Example: "Could you lend me $100?". Sometimes, can is also used to mark a possibility.
Senior Member. "Can" and "could" are both equally polite - the key word is "please", which is present in both sentences. The sentence beginning with "please can" is a question, and it should have a question mark. It is a mistake/omission by the writer.
Can: uses
- Permission. We often use can to ask for or give permission:
- Ability. We often use can to talk about ability to do something in the present or future:
- General truths.
- Possibility.
- Guessing and predicting: can't as the negative of must.
- Requests.
- Reproaches.
- Offers.
Would: How They're Different (and How to Use Each) The main difference between will and would is that would can be used in the past tense but will cannot. Also, would is commonly used to refer to a future event that may occur under specific conditions, while will is used more generally to refer to future events.
Could, would, and should are all used to talk about possible events or situations, but each one tells us something different. Could is used to say that an action or event is possible. Would is used to talk about a possible or imagined situation, and is often used when that possible situation is not going to happen.
If taken literally, "Can you" is equivalent to asking the person if they're capable of doing something. "Could you", on the other hand, implies that the action can be completed under some circumstances by the person. The usage of can you is idiomatic, and hence, is more popular used phrase of the two.
Couldn-t sentence examples
- "I couldn't sleep," she said.
- I was so excited that I couldn't sleep, so I got up and dressed.
- You couldn't see a thing.
- "Yes.
- If he has custody, she couldn't get the money.
- They both couldn't be there all the time.
- He's a big horse, but I couldn't make him carry the two of us in that terrain.
to be able to; have the ability, power, or skill to: She can solve the problem easily, I'm sure. to know how to: He can play chess, although he's not particularly good at it. to have the power or means to: A dictator can impose his will on the people.
