5 Expert Ways to Use Could in Your English Life – Today
Itโs Wednesday afternoon where I live and I’m smiling right now because…
The sun is shining through my window (the sun always makes me happy), I just finished a fantastic small group conversation class with the April Fluency School group, AND itโs Confident English Wednesday!!
I hope youโre smiling today, too.
Andย now – are you ready for todayโs Confident English lesson? It’s a little different than normal.
Every week I receive emails from the Confident English Community and I almost always see: โCould you help me withโฆโ and then there is a requestย about aย specific grammar topic, fluency advice, speaking strategy or vocabulary question.
And last week, these emails inspired me.
With Confident English, I often provide very in-depth lessons with a lot of details. And those are fantastic. For example, tips on how to successfully negotiate in English, mistakes to avoid on the telephone, how to answer the number one job interview question, or how to describe your personality.
But sometimes itโs also important to slow down and become laser-focused* on just one thing.
What I mean is, to learn, practice, and perfect just one thing so you can do it successfully in your daily English life.
And thatโs what weโre doing this week.
*to be laser-focused on something/someone = to give intense attention to one single idea, project, problem, person or activity.
ย
Many of the questions I get inย emails start with, โCan youโฆโ or โCould youโฆโ and that seems like the perfect place to start!
So, this week we’ll shine our spotlight on grammar in real-life speaking situations.
Specifically – how in the world do we use the word COULD in English? Could is one of those modalย verbs that can be so confusing. What do these modalย verbs mean? How do we use them?
In this weekโs video lesson, youโll learn 5 specific ways we use COULD in real-life English. And youโll hear specific examples – sentences and questions – that native speakers use every day.
With just a few minutes of your time today, youโll understand exactly how you can use this word in English – correctly – and why you should.
Find out how you could use this video to help your daily English.
Lesson by Annemarie
And now itโs your turn!
Yes, I always love to hear from you. You make my work more exciting and wonderful because I get to help you.
Choose one of these questions (or both) and share your answers with me in the comments below:
- How could you use could in your daily English life? Share with me an example of a past ability or a polite request you might ask a colleague or friend. Practice could with your own real-life example.
- Now letโs talk about possibilities. If you could do one thing – one super specific thing – in English perfectly, what would it be? (Ooohhhhhโฆ Iโm using could and a conditional question here!! Bonus!)
This is your chance to practice so share with me. Be as detailed and specific as you can. Not only does it give you better practice in English, it will also help me give you better feedback. ๐
Thank you for joining me today and have a fantastic Confident English Wednesday!
Annemarie
P.S. Do you have a friend or colleague who would also love to improve her grammar? Share this lesson to spread the Confident English love.
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This is the one video I was looking for. Thank u.
I’m glad to hear it was helpful to you, Govind!
Hi Annemarie, Thank you for the lesson! I am following you since couple of months and I really like the way you explain each and every aspects of a word! Also Could you please post video on word ‘though’, I always get perplexed on how and where to use this word…. 1) Could we talk tomorrow please, I have a dead line and have lot to do to finish the assignments. (Making request) 2) Yes, of-course I can, there is no problem. (responding to request) 3) I suggested to my son that he could do more exercises or go out… Read more ยป
When I was younger, I could remember things more easily. (past ability)
Could you elaborate the procedure please? I’m not able to understand it. (polite request)
Don’t run on the wet floor, you could fall down.(present possibilities)
1.Could you help me with this luggage? 2. Could you reply me as soon as possible.? 3.I could have a cup of tea. 4.I could have come if I was invited.5. I could have joined you for the lunch but I alrady had it.
I could help with the question but no one asked.
Could you say something about the ongoing situation at work?
Thank you so much Annemarie, the lesson about could is clearer in my mind now
Awesome! I’m so glad it was helpful and great examples.
Could I invite you in Italy? I can host you in Milan.. we could speak English all the time. It could be the most helpful thing that I’ve ever done. ๐
Great uses of could, Vincenza!! ๐
Hi Annamarie,
1) ( In a restaurant) Sorry, could I have the bill, please?;
2) (A friend of mine need to go out of city for job). He asks me: Hi Vale, next week I need to go out of city for job, could you looking for my dog just for 3 days ?
Me: Ehm, I don’t know, I could but just for two days;
3) I always suggest that when we feel moody we could dancing;
4)When I was younger I could traveling adventuring.
Hello, Annemarie. I’ve just joined your English community and I must say I’m really excited. My giveaway of what I have learnt from your video would be: – Could you come back before 5 pm, so we have plenty of time to finish our project? – When I was at school, I could make friends much easier. – Could you help me with this presentation? – I could do this but I am extremely busy at the moment. – I could have left earlier, but I decided to wait for John. – If I could speak English without hesitation and… Read more ยป
Hi Iryna,
First of all – welcome! I’m thrilled you’ve found my website and my community.
And what great examples using ‘could’ in the five ways I explained in the lesson! Very well done. I’m glad it was interesting and useful to you.
Hello Annemarie,
Here are my examples of the use of could:
Could you help me with the math homework? I have some difficulties with several of the exercises. If you have time we could meet up tomorrow afternoon?
I’m not quite sure if I understand your second question. But if I’m right you ask what I want to do perfectly in English?
Thank you for sharing and taking your time to respond all our comments ๐
/Marie
Hi Marie,
All great examples with could. And yes, you’re right about the second question. If there was one thing you could do in English (with no stress, no problems) what would it be? For example, is there a specific topic you wish you could talk about easily? Or answering the telephone in English? Writing emails?
Best, Annemarie
So for example “if I could choose one thing I could do in English without any problems, that would be talking to my patients at work/in school (I’m a med student)”
Thanks again for replying all my comments ๐
/Marie
Thank you for your sharing lesson !
You’re very welcome, Phanna.
Hey Annemarie,
I could have learnt Grammar well in my school days unless I was distracted my focus on studies. Anyway, I hope that I can improve it even now because of you only if you could post more videos per week. Could you please spend some time to correct this sentence?
Hello Sanjeev,
I’m glad this lesson was helpful to you. And I do post new lessons every week. Be sure to check out this website every Wednesday for the newest lesson.
Best, Annemarie
Dear ma’am Annemarie, an extremely thanks to you for the useful videos you sent to me and your time and efforts . I’m very happy for being part of your class. The videos could help me more in refreshing my memory.
Hello Aireen,
Wonderful! I’m thrilled that the video lessons help you to refresh your memory for English!
I wish you continued success.
Thank you sooo much for your lesson. your way of teaching is just adorable ..it help me to move further in my english world. thank you Annemarie.
Hello Mehi,
Thank you for your comments. I’m very glad to know you find the Confident English lessons useful to you.
Best,
Annemarie
Frist of all, I would like to thank You for the video.
It is really interesting to introduce with different meanings of Could.
here are some examples:
Could you please be so kind and help me to solve the issue with the project?
Could you recall me?
Could we meet tomorrow at 5 PM?
Yes, maybe we could meet, but, I have some other urgent meetings for tomorrow.
Dear Annmarie, could you chek my examples and give your feedbacks about?:)
Hello Saida,
Thank you for your comments and sharing your examples!
Could you tell me – what do you mean by, “Could you recall me?” By recall, do you mean to return a phone call or to call back?
Great example with showing some hesitation in replying to a request with your answer, “Yes, maybe we could meet but…”
Best wishes, Annemarie
Dear Annemarie,
Thank you for your guidance and support, which has been amazing!
I just want to say how grateful I am that you are my teacher. Thank you for helping me improve my speaking skills. It has been my pleasure to get to know you. I wish I could have known you earlier in my life.It could have had a tremendous effect and impact on the way I speak now.
Hello Yaqoob,
Thank you for your comments. I’m very happy to know that you’re enjoying the Confident English lessons every week.
I wish you continued success in your English.
Today I have had time to watching the lesson. It was very interesting and helpful for me. I could give you some examples:
Could you show me where I could put this things? Could you tell me when I could take the break? If I could have more time I could have more improve English. If you finish the school early you could take a walk. If you eat less you could look better.
I hope this examples are good.
Thank you for your help!
Hi Valentina,
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I’m thrilled to know the lesson was useful to you.
And you’ve provided some great examples! Good work!
Best,
Annemarie
Dear Annemarie, thank you for another useful video. The best part form me is the comparison of polite requests vs. answers. One thing I donยดt fully follow is point No. 4 about past abilities. What about “When I was 6, I could ride my bike/read/write a few letters, etc. and I still can do and keep developing these skills”. The funny thing is that this was the very question my elementary students asked me this morning when I was trying to teach to them how we are speak about our abilities at certain ages. Until now, I was convinced that… Read more ยป
Hi Dasa, Thank you for sharing your comments. I’m so glad you found the video helpful! And great question: If we use “could” to talk about past abilities, it doesn’t necessarily mean we no longer can do something. Rather it might mean that we can’t do something to the same level or degree. In the example sentence I used: When I was younger, I could run a lot faster without losing my breath. The truth is, I can still run but not as fast or not as well as I could when I was younger. Does that answer your question?… Read more ยป
Thank you for the Video Annemarie! It’s very useful thing to know how to use the verb’could’ , and the comparison with ‘can’. What I found good, too, is that you make a comment on the difference between a polite question and the answer-how the meaning of the verb changes. I was thinking about the Past Participle form of the verb-‘been able’-as far as I remember from my schooldays, it’s also a slight difference between these two.
Hi Lilianne,
Thank you so much for your comments! I’m thrilled that the lesson was helpful to you!
And interesting observation. Do you mean that “be able to” is similar to using could when talking about past abilities? For example: I could run faster when I was younger vs. I was able to run faster when I was younger? These are very similar statements and both are correct. ๐
Best,
Annemarie
The video you shared about “could” is very easy to understand. Thank you Annemarie! ๐
Hello Syahrul,
Thank you so much! I’m very happy to know that you could understand and the lesson was helpful to you.
Best, Annemarie