ABILITIES

Modal verbs in English

Using can:
• We use “can” to talk about abilities in the presente.
• The verb after “can” should always come in the bare infinitive.
• “can” works as an auxiliar verb, so it is capable of doing negatives and interrogatives.
• Examples:
• I can work with numbers.
• I can speak English
• I can drive a car.
Negatives:
• You use can’t or can not to do negative senteces.

• Examples:
• I can’t fly a plane.
• She can’t cook anything.
• They can’t deal with people.
• We can not go out today.
• It can not eat bone.
Interrogatives and short answers:
• To do an interrogative, simple move “can” to before the subject of the sentence.
• To do short answers, use yes or no + subject + can or can’t.

• Examples:
• Can you ride a bike?
• Yes, I can. / No, I can’t.

• Can she finish the Project on time?

• Yes, she can. / No, she can’t.
Degrees of ability with “can”:
• You can express how well or how badly you can do something using can + expressions.

• Examples: 100%
• I can speak English very well.
• She can do Math.
• He can cook, but not very well.
• They can’t drink soda.
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Other ways to talk about ability:
• Be good at
• Be bad at

• Examples: 100%

• I am an expert at eating healthy.

• She is really good at cooking.
• He is good at math.
• They are not good at working in groups.
• It is terrible at behaving in public.
• We are incapable of doing this exercise.
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Lets practice:
• Write 8 sentences about your own abilities:
• Use can for 4 sentences
• Use expressions for 4 sentences
• You should have 6 true sentences and 2 false sentences

• Now, talk to your partner, see if you can figure out what are the false sentences.
Listening:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfyo9wskcyE

• Based on the video, write 3 sentences with can and 3 sentences with can’t

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPDHqfX4PZQ

• Follow your teacher’s instructions

Putting it all together

!!
• Group story

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• (written)

pl
• Lets try to use all the grammar that we learned so far

m
Si
• Group story

it
• (spoken)

p
ee
• Lets practice