Hi, I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English and welcome to your
Confident English Wednesday lesson. This is where you want to be every week if
your goal is to advance your English language skills and communicate with
confidence. This week we're going to look at grammar in real life. We're going to
get very specific on one topic. We'll look at some examples of how it gets used in
real, everyday speaking situations and, of course, as always you have the
opportunity to practice and perfect so that you can use your English with
confidence at work and in your everyday life. This week we're we're looking at
the word could. Could is one of those modal words that you might hear a lot
about. Modals are words like should, would, could, might, but I want to focus just on
one. Just on the word could so that you can really understand how we use it in
everyday speaking situations and use it correctly. In today's video you'll learn
five situations in which you can use the word could just like a native speaker in
your everyday life. And number one is making polite requests. So imagine that
you're at work and you need help with something or you want to ask someone for
something. The way to make it the most polite is to use the word could. For
example: could you send me the contract by the end of the day? Could you send me
the contract by the end of the day? In this example, I could use the word can -
Can you send me the contract by the end of the day but just that small change
from can to could makes it more polite. Another example that I hear a lot
in my classes and in my emails is could you help me? I just don't understand this
grammar topic. Could you help me? I just don't understand this. Or maybe you get a
phone call from a friend who says, could I borrow your car this weekend? Could I
borrow your car this weekend? And finally a very polite but common way of
interrupting someone at work is: I'm sorry could I bother you for a moment? Or
I'm sorry could I interrupt you for a moment? Now the second way that we use
could in our everyday lives is responding to requests. You've already
used it to make a polite request. Let's imagine that your friend calls you and
asks: could you help me move this weekend? I'm moving to a new apartment and I need
some help. Could you help me move this weekend now? It's your job to respond.
Again you have a choice. You could say can: yes I can or i would love to help
you move this weekend. Or you could say: yeah I could help you. I only have time
on Saturday afternoon though. Yeah, I could help you. In responding to a
request, when we use could it shows a little bit of hesitation or lack of
desire for doing it. Maybe you really don't have time or you just don't want
to help. Using could actually shows that you don't really want to do it. Instead
can can show a little bit more enthusiasm. For example, yes of course I
can help you this weekend, it's no problem. So there's just a little change
between making the request and answering the request. Number three making
suggestions. For example maybe someone says to you:
I'm so bored I have nothing to do. But you have a lot of good ideas and you can
suggest those ideas by saying: you could read a book or you could go to a movie.
You could take a walk or you could even take the dog on a walk. All of those are
great suggestions and we're using could to help us make those. Number four: past
abilities. When I was younger I could run a lot faster without getting out of
breath. When I was younger I could run a lot faster without getting out of breath.
Or ten years ago she could speak Spanish really well but she hasn't used it in
years. Ten years ago she could speak Spanish so much better but she hasn't
used it in years. In both of those examples I'm talking about an ability
that I or someone else had in the past but we no longer have that ability. And
finally number five. A real-life situation when we use the word could is
for possibilities. And this is similar to using might but we'll save that for
another day. Let's look at a couple of examples of using could for a possibility.
Don't forget to take an umbrella today it could rain. Or we could even use it
for past possibilities. For example, you could have gone to the store earlier to
avoid all the traffic. You could have gone to the store earlier to avoid all
the rush hour traffic. And with that you have five real-life examples of how we
use could in our everyday lives in English. And now it's your turn to give
it a try. As always you can share with me your own examples in the comments
section just below this video to get feedback and to share with the Confident
English Community. Try practicing some polite requests or share with me some
past abilities that you had. As always, I do read all the comments below and
provide feedback so don't be afraid to take this opportunity to test your
understanding. And then begin using these examples in your everyday life so that
you can communicate with confidence.