Could / Can (Request help or permission)

Could / Can

Permission:

We use can or could to ask for permission, but could is more formal and polite.

Can I borrow your pencil?

Could I see the principal?

Can and Could are used to express permission too.

We also use CAN for the present and future, but we use COULD for the past.

Mexican people can vote when they are eighteen.I can leave early if I want.

Can means “I have the permission to”

Could or was/were allowed to for permission in the past.

Could expresses general permission in the past:

When I was a child I could watch TV until 12:00 a.m.

If we refer to a particular action in the past which was permitted, it’s more common to say was/were allowed:

I bought the ticket to the concert, so I was allowed to enter.

But couldn’t is more common than wasn’t/ weren’t allowed:

Yesterday I went to a museum but I couldn’t take any picture there.

Request for help

Could you is a very useful request form, it’s often used with please and possibility.

Couldn’t expresses the speaker’s hopes for a more favorable answer.

Can is informal.

Could is more formal.

Can and Could are followed by simple form of the verb.

Can/Could + you + verb simple form + …?

-Can you lend me $50?

-Could you show me the way?

-Could you please tell me the hour?

-Could you tell me the hour, please?

-Could you possibly pick me up at 8:30 p.m.?

Bibliografía

DGETI - CBTis 137 Ingles IV