Modal verbs - ability

Interviewer: What makes you think you’d be a good football pundit?

Candidate: Well, I can read the game, I can understand strategy, I can get into the heads of the players.

Interviewer: I see. Can you spell your own name?

Candidate: Of course.

Interviewer: When can you start?

Statement of Form

Subject + can + base form

Subject + could + base form

Subject + (be) + able to + base form

What students need to know

At lower levels: We use "can" to talk about general abilities: "I can drive a tank." "She can sing the blues." It also works for  specific situations: "I can make the 10 o'clock meeting, but not the nine o'clock."

At higher levels: When referring to the past, we use "could": "Remember old Duke? He could play 'She'll be coming round the mountain' with his eyes closed." But this only goes for general abilities. For specific situations we need "was able to": "I didn't get up in time for the nine o'clock meeting, but I was able to make the 10 o'clock."

Equally, for the future, it's "will be able to" - for both general references...

"Dad, will I be able to play for England one day?" "No. Scotland maybe."

... and specific ones,

"Don't worry, they won't be able to recognise you: you'll be wearing a mask." "Right boss."

Pronunciation

Students need to know that "can" is pronounced either with a schwa if unstressed, or with a full vowel to rhyme with "van." The negative, "can't" - and this is where they  really need to know - is said with the /ah/ sound, and any approximation of this sound runs the risk of producing a completely different word which needs no introduction, but might make the student less than completely welcome in polite company.

What students struggle with

Elsewhere in the language, one verb followed by another often entails use of the base form with "to": "I want to be an astronaut." or maybe the -ing form: "She enjoys showing off." But here, as with all modals, it is only the base form that is needed, which can lead many students to errors such as "I can to swim."

Students' differing attempts at the correct vowel sound can result in their listener being confused as to whether they can or can't do something. Failure to pronounce the "t" of "can't", when it is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound, often compounds this problem.

Finally, remembering when to use, and how to form "was able to" and "will be able to" plagues students well into higher levels of learning.

Generative situation

Mobile features

Pick up a leaflet, or download a webpage, about the latest mobile phone, or other popular gadget. It is obviously preferable if the text is in English, but it doesn't have to be. Use this material to elicit sentences about its capabilities: "You can make calls." "You can read you email." "You can take photos." "It can show movies." Then elicit a few more technophobic things, using "can't": "It can't change the baby." "It can't make tea." "It can play music but it can't dance."

Fun practice.

Song "I can do anything better than you can."

This is rather old and the verses are too hard for students, but there is great fun to be had by all joining in with the chorus, perhaps in the teams. Excellent practice of the weak form of "can", together with the short answers, "Yes, I can", "No, you can't".