Examples

1.Can women play for organized baseball today?

No, they can't, but some women are fighting to change those rules.

2. Are women able to earn the same money as men in sports?

No, they aren't. For example, women golfers earn much less than men.

3 When will women be able to compete against men in the Olympics?

Who knows?

4. Could women compete in the Olympics in ancient Greece?

No, they couldn't. They finally organized their own Olympic.

⁷ All-round sportsman means «someone who can play many sports well».

⁸ We cannot use could in this sentence because we are talking about a specific one-time achievement in a difficult situation. In all the other sentences in the example, it is possible to use could or was able to/were able to. Here are two more example, in which you cannot use could.

a. I was sick yesterday, but I was able to take my math test in the afternoon because the doctor gave me some medicine.

b. Molly had a cramp in her leg, but she was able to finish the marathon before it got really had.

• ACTIVITY 6A

Read the following information and then ask a question using can/can't or be able to in the past, present, or future tense.

1. Molly can't beat Yolanda at tennis now.

When will she be able to beat (bent)her?

After she practices a lot.

2. Molly runs a lot more than Yolanda, and she runs more often.

Who____________________________(participate) in the next marathon?

Molly ____________________________________________________

3. Who ___________________________(run) faster, Molly or Yolanda?

4. Bob Hayes, a famous athlete, was sick when he was a child He won an Olympic medal for running.

Why ____________________________ sports as a child? (negative, play)

Because he had polio.

5. Girls didn't play on the same baseball teams as boys until 1978.,

Why ______________________________on boys' teams? (negative, play)

Because the rules didn't allow them to.

6. Mickey Mantle was a great baseball hitter.

What _____________________________________ that was unusual? (do)

He hit left-handed and right-handed.

• ACTIVITY 6B

o Choose one of the superheroes from the following list.

Superman Wonder Woman

Batman The Incredible Hulk

The Bionic Man/the Bionic Woman Spiderman

Write five sentences about one of these superheroes. Tell what he or she can do. Is there anything that he or she cannot do? Tell what.

Example

Superman can bend steel with his bare hands.

o Now you are one of these superheroes, and there are many things in the world that you want to change. What can or will you be able to do to bring about these changes?

Example

I am Wonder Woman. I work to eliminate crime and corruption. There is an international plot to steal all the gold at Fort Knox.' I will be able to stop this crime. I will be able to hear the conversation of the robbers with my superhearing. I'll be able to find their secret meeting place because I have X-ray vision....

1. Finish this story.

2. Now choose another superhero you want to be and write your own story.

o King Kong had enormous strength. He could do many things. For Example, he could uproot a tree with one hand. What were some of the other things he could do? What were some of the things he couldn't do? Why?

• ACTIVITY 6C

Fill in the blanks with could, was able to /were able to. For many of the sentences, you can use both was able to/were able to and could, but remember that in some affirmative sentences you can use only was able to/were able to. After you finish this activity, go back and circle the blanks where was able to/were able to is the only correct answer. Your instructor may choose to do this activity as a listening comprehension exercise before you fill in the blanks. If so, look at the Listening Comprehension Questions at the end of the activity and keep them in mind as you listen to your instructor the first time. The second and third times that you listen, take notes in order to be able to answer the questions.

Florence Griffith Joyner was one of the superstars of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. She won three gold medals and one silver medal in track. In the trials for the 1988 Olympics, she broke a record for the 100-meter race. She was able to complete the race in 10.49 seconds – less time than any woman before her. Florence says that she_________ win these victories because she runs more like a guy than a girl.»

Florence didn't have an easy life as a child. When she was four years old, her mother took her eleven children and the thirty cents that was in her pocket and left the children's father. They moved to Los Angeles, California. They couldn't afford (negative) to live in a good neighborhood. Her mother searched for an apartment a long time until finally she ___________move into a government housing project'' in Watts, one of the poorest black slums in the United States. Florence remembers some times when her mother went without food so that her children have enough to eat. Life wasn't easy, but somehow her mother __________ keep her family together. There was strong discipline in the Griffith family. The children ____________________________________________________(negative)

⁹ Fort Knot is the place where the gold for the U.S. Treasury is kept.

¹⁰ Government housing project means «a group of apartment buildings built by the government for poor people who can't afford high rents.»

watch TV during the week so that they_________ study, and everyone had to be in bed with the lights out by 10:00 P.M. Florence saps she didn't know how poor they were because they were rich as a family. This is why she_________ overcome all the difficulties and hardships of growing up in a place like Watts.

Florence's mother remembers that, as a child, Florence was very light on her t co. When the girl went to visit her father where he lived in the Mojave Desert, she used to chase rabbits. Naturally, most of the rabbits __________ run faster than Florence, but she claims that once she __________ catch one of them. Florence is an unusual athlete. She attracted a great deal of media attention at the 1988 Olympic games because of her eye-catching beauty, brilliant smile, and sense d style. For the trials, she wore fashionable bodysuits in electric colors with only one leg. She had six-inch fingernails, each one polished a different color. In the 1984 Olympics, officials told her that she ____________(negative) participate in the relay race because her nails were too long for passing the baton. She refused to cut them, and even her family _________ (negative) make her change her mind. Some people thought that was ridiculous, but Americans enjoyed the glamour that Florence Griffith Joyner brought to the 1988 Olympics.