Reference · module 7
Can, can't, let's
Everything this module explains, on one page.
I can
Say what you are able to do.
- can is the easiest verb in English: I can, you can, he can, we can, they can. It never takes an s and never changes at all.
- The verb after it has no to: I can swim, never I can to swim. Adding to is the mistake almost every learner makes at least once.
- The negative is cannot, written as one word, and can't in speech. The question just moves can to the front: Can you swim?
The mistake you are about to make
I can to swim.
I can swim.
To looks like part of the infinitive, so it follows can in. After a modal verb there is none: I can swim, I must go.
Can I?
Ask for permission and for help.
- can also asks permission: Can I sit here? Can I use your phone? Same word, a different job, and no new grammar.
- could is one step politer and is used for strangers and for anything larger: Could you help me? Could I ask you something?
- The answer to a request is usually Sure, Of course or Go ahead. Saying only Yes sounds surprisingly cold in English.
The mistake you are about to make
Help me.
Could you help me?
A bare imperative is a command in English however friendly the tone. Requests take a question form, and could is the politest of them.
Come in, don't worry
Give a simple instruction, and soften it.
- The imperative is the bare verb and nothing else: Come in. Sit down. Wait. English does not change the verb for an order.
- The negative adds don't: Don't worry. Don't be late. Note that even be takes don't here, which it does almost nowhere else.
- please turns an order into a request, at either end: Please sit down, or Sit down, please. Both are used and both are polite.
The mistake you are about to make
Not worry.
Don't worry.
A negative imperative is often just "not" plus the verb. English needs don't, and even be takes it here: don't be late.
When you don't understand
Keep a conversation going when you have lost the thread.
- Sorry? on its own means I did not hear you, and it is what British speakers say most. Pardon? is the same thing, slightly more formal.
- Could you say that again, please? and Could you speak more slowly, please? are the two full sentences worth having ready.
- And to get a word you are missing: What's this in English? or How do you say … in English? Both open a door rather than closing one.
The mistake you are about to make
Repeat, please.
Could you say that again, please?
Please does not turn an order into a request in English. The question form does the work: could you say that again?