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.