Can and Could

CAN

1. Talks about ability

She can dance.
I can swim.
I cannot paint well.
I can speak English well.

2. Giving command or orders,
to ask somebody to do something
Can you please send this mail to this address?
Can you lock the door.
Can you turn it off, please?

3. To ask permission

Can I smoke in this room?
Can I use the bathroom?
Can I have this seat?
Can we use this room for a while?

COULD

1. Past Ability

I could play the piano well when I was 12.
She couldn’t swim at first.
He couldn’t lift a heavy weight.
He couldn’t understand English before.

2.  Giving requests or orders

• Could is more polite and formal than can.
• Using can or could in giving orders is OK.
• It’s in question form.

Could you please drop this mail before you go home?
Could you turn off the light?
Could you hang this outside, please?

3. Asking a Favor

• especially for difficult tasks
• we use could since it is polite.

Could you tell me where Madison Avenue is?
Could you take me to this address?
Could you help me with the house chores?
Could you babysit for me while I work?

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A few or a little?

Learn first about count nouns and non-count nouns.

A few = for count nouns
A little = for count nouns

Commonly Confused “a little or a few” expressions:

A few for:

• fresh air       Let’s take a few fresh air outside.
• mistakes      We made a few mistakes.

A little for:

• language      I speak a little French.
• rain                There was a little rain yesterday so we got home early.
• time               I got a little time left.
• money          I’ve got a little money left.

“A few, a little” is not the same as “few, little”.

• A few means small number like 3,4,5…
• Few means almost none.

Example:

• Kim is shy that is why she only has a few friends. (3 or 4 friends)
• Brian is unkind and easily angered that is why he has few friends. (almost none)

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How many or how much

Learn first about count and non-count nouns.

• How many = for count nouns.
• How much = for non- count nouns.

How many apples do you have?
wrong: How much apples do you have?

• Many asks for numbers.
• Much asks for size, weight, volume, etc.

More Examples:

How many gifts did you receive this Christmas?
How many girls are there in the classroom?
How much water should I drink everyday?
How much sugar should I add?
How much flour is needed for the cake?

“How many” for non-count nouns

• We can also say how many for water, milk, butter etc.
• Just add glasses of, cups of, teaspoon, scoops etc.

How many glasses of water should I drink everyday?
How many scoops of ice-cream should I add to the smoothie?
How many cups of flour?

“How much glasses of water” is wrong.

Pattern:

• How many + Count N
• How much + Non C.
• How many + glasses of + Non C.

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Count and Non-count Nouns

Count vs. Non Count Nouns

Count nouns are of course, those that you can count.
You can attach a number before it.

Example:
8 apples
5 dogs
1 bicycle
19 pens

Non-count nouns cannot be counted.
You can’t place a number before it.
You can’t say 8 milk, 5 water, 2 sugar.

But we can say:

8 glasses of milk
5 gallons of water
2 cups of sugar

Usually liquids, melting solids, grains and powdered things are non-count.

More non-count noun examples:

a dish of ice-cream
a scoop of ice-cream
a cup of flour
3 bottle of ketchup
9 packs of tomato sauce
a slice of cheese
a slice of butter

How much or how many
A few or a little

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You, Your, You’re

You is a pronoun.

Your is a possessive adjective.

You’re is a contraction, which means “You are.”

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She or her…Possessive Adjective

For 1 subject:

I- my
he- his
she- her
you-your
it-its

For 2 or more:

we- our
they- their
you- your

Possessive adjectives (my, her, his) are those that show that a person owns something.

I am Fred and this is my dog.

He drives to school with his new car.

She is my sister and this is Mike, her husband.

You are alone. Where are your friends?   What is you’re?

We should clean our backyard.

They cleaned their classroom yesterday.

All of these sentences show ownership. Fred owns the dog, He owns the car so it is his car, We own the backyard so it is our backyard, and etc.

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Use MEANDER in a sentence

A meander is a winding form of a stream or path. But here is another way of using it.

This is a sentence I got from the book I’m reading by J. Maxwell.

Examine a letter, memo, or other items you’ve recently written. Are your sentences short and direct or do they MEANDER?

Meaning…your sentences are going in an aimless, unfocused direction. Like the winding shape of a river or stream.

Other sentence:

His life is meandering. He’s getting nowhere in life.
I guess my presentation has been meandering.

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goofed up

image from i.ehow.com

means “making a serious mistake”

• My boss goofed up the project and he is blaming the junior executive for that.
• I goofed up when I sent the email to the wrong address.

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Blow up

means “to ruin/destroy”

• You’ve blown up my party. Why did you quarrel in front of my guests?
• The project blew up because of the bad weather. It was canceled.
• You have blown up the entire plan. Why did you tell her the secret?

means “to be angry”

• What? You blew up in front of your boss?
• I’m sure she’d blow up if she discovers that her husband is secretly in debt.
• Ho! Chill! You don’t have to blow up.     (this is just my own sentence guyz, it means “Hey relax, why are you so angry?)

Other Meaning:

literally means “to destroy by explosion”

• The restaurant blew up and police said that it is due to a faulty electrical connection.
• The demolition team blew up the entire building.

also means “to inflate”

• Let’s blow up your balloon Kevin.

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