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    Could, Was-Were Able To, Managed To, Succeeded in (Theory)

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    Catherine
    This document discusses different ways to talk about ability, success, failure, and possibility in the past tense in English. It outlines structures like "could/couldn't + infinitive" to talk about general ability, "managed to/succeeded in" to talk about success in a specific task, "couldn't" to talk about failure, and "could/was able to" to talk about possibility or opportunity in the past. Examples are provided to illustrate the use of each structure.

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    Could, Was-Were Able To, Managed To, Succeeded in (Theory)

    Uploaded by

    Catherine
    169 views2 pages
    This document discusses different ways to talk about ability, success, failure, and possibility in the past tense in English. It outlines structures like "could/couldn't + infinitive" to talk about general ability, "managed to/succeeded in" to talk about success in a specific task, "couldn't" to talk about failure, and "could/was able to" to talk about possibility or opportunity in the past. Examples are provided to illustrate the use of each structure.

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    Could, Was-Were able to, managed to, succeeded in (Theory)

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    This document discusses different ways to talk about ability, success, failure, and possibility in the past tense in English. It outlines structures like "could/couldn't + infinitive" to talk about general ability, "managed to/succeeded in" to talk about success in a specific task, "couldn't" to talk about failure, and "could/was able to" to talk about possibility or opportunity in the past. Examples are provided to illustrate the use of each structure.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    169 views2 pages

    Could, Was-Were Able To, Managed To, Succeeded in (Theory)

    Uploaded by

    Catherine
    This document discusses different ways to talk about ability, success, failure, and possibility in the past tense in English. It outlines structures like "could/couldn't + infinitive" to talk about general ability, "managed to/succeeded in" to talk about success in a specific task, "couldn't" to talk about failure, and "could/was able to" to talk about possibility or opportunity in the past. Examples are provided to illustrate the use of each structure.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana Lengua Inglesa II

    DTM

    UNIT 11

    GRAMMAR: Could, was / were able to, managed to, succeeded in

    THEORY

    • GENERAL ABILITY IN THE PAST

    Could / Couldn’t + Infinitive (Less formal). A general ability to do


    something in the past. Ex. Peter could run / couldn’t run as fast as a
    hare.

    Was / were able + Infinitive (More formal). A general ability to do


    something in the past. Ex. President Kennedy was able to read
    newspapers at high speed.

    • SUCCESS / FAILURE IN A SPECIFIC TASK IN THE PAST

    (A) Success

    Was / were able + Infinitive (More formal). Ex. Professor Hawkins


    was able to express his thoughts through a speech-generating device.

    Managed to + Infinitive (Less formal). Usually when the task was


    too difficult. Ex. We managed to escape from the crowd at the end of
    the concert.

    Succeeded in + Gerund: Usually when the task was too difficult.


    (More formal). Ex. It was reported that the father and child
    succeeded in surviving after the tsunami.
    Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana Lengua Inglesa II
    DTM

    Past Simple (Informal contexts). To talk about success in a specific


    task in the past without saying it was difficult. Ex. Margaret bought
    the flight tickets at the very end. There were few left.

    * Could cannot be used to talk about success in a specific task in the


    past.

    (B) Failure

    Couldn’t: To talk about failure in a specific task in the past. Ex. My


    brother couldn’t find the way out and he got locked.

    • POSSIBILITY / OPPORTUNITY IN THE PAST

    To make reference to the possibility or opportunity we had to


    do something in the past, the following structures can be used:

    Could + Infinitive (Less formal). Ex. Karen could improve her


    German thanks to the intensive practice she had after two months.

    Was / were able + Infinitive (More formal). Ex. The politician was
    able to defeat his opponent as most people in his district voted for
    him.

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