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- modal verbs - cant versus couldnt, what is the difference . . .
That can't be Obama at the door, it's too early That couldn't be Obama at the door, it's too early What is the difference between them? Are they almost the same?
- couldnt vs wouldnt - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
Let see this example: I hid the presents so that she wouldn't find them I hid the presents so that she couldn't find them The dictionary said: so that in order that somebody something would:
- idioms - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
Are there any phrases like "Couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery" or "Couldn't organise a root in a brothel" that are reasonably common, indicate organisational incompetence, have a degree of i
- meaning - Difference between cant and couldnt - English Language . . .
In these cases, "can't have" is being used to denote disbelief or incredulity, while "couldn't have" is being used to denote an impossibility Can and could are modal verbs, and represent present and preterite forms respectively The preterite is not necessarily used to refer to past time, such as in this case, where it's being used in the subjunctive mood, expressing the possibility of
- Difference between couldnt and wasnt able to
I don't quite understand a difference between "couldn't" and "wasn't able to" Someone suggested that we use "wasn't able to" when we talk about one action in the past and "couldn't" when repeated
- tense - wouldnt vs. wont couldnt vs cant - English . . .
If we were talking about the importance of energy and that even machines need it what should we say? What's the difference between these two sentences: Machines wouldn't work without energy amp;
- couldnt present or past? - English Language Learners Stack Exchange
The sentence (A) isn't correct grammatically "I couldn't open the door" is in the past As a matter of fact, you are locked in and unable to open the door at the present time So the correct sentence should be: I am locked in here and cannot open the door Can you help me? The second sentence (B), which is in the past, is correct grammatically Could is the past of can
- differences - cant have been vs. couldnt have been - English Language . . .
Couldn't is better in all of these cases, because its epistemic sense is very close to that of can, and epistemic could is not restricted to negative contexts like epistemic can That's why can't have been sounds odd; yes it's grammatical there, but why use a special restricted form when the normal form is couldn't?
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