CAN/ CAN’T- PART 2: other uses

In a previous post on CAN/ CAN’T, we studied how to express abilities but CAN/CAN’T has more possible meanings.

1. We use ‘can’ to ask for and give permission. Read this dialogue as an example:

Liza, eight years old, is asking her mother for permission to use the computer…

Liza:	Please mum, can I use the computer?
Her mother:	No, you can’t. It’s time to go to bed.
Liza:	Can I read a story before I sleep?
Her mother:	Sure! But try to sleep early.
Liza:	Thanks a lot, mummy.

Complete exercises 1 and 2
Can’t expresses a prohibition so we commonly use it to describe rules and regulations at work, at school, in a city, at home… Complete this exercise.
2. We use ‘can’ in offers , requests and possibilities.

• Can I help?
• Can you close the window?
• You can use a black or a blue pen.

exercise on requests, offers and possibilities
Remember:

Impersonal Can

Sometimes You can and Can you…? are impersonal and refer to people in general.

• You can see many stars at night from here. (= people in general can see many stars)

It doesn’t necessarily refer to you but people in general.

• You can’t run naked in the middle of the street.

Not necessarily saying YOU can’t run naked in the middle of the street but in general it is not possible for anyone.

Now, let’s put all the previous information into practice. Complete exercises 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5

CAN/CAN’T -PART 1: expressing abilities

We use ‘can’ to talk about ‘ability’.

• I can speak French.
• I can’t drive.

What can you do?

Can you play a sport? Do you remember any sports? Revise vocabulary clicking here. Now match the picture and the sport here.

Finally, revise which verb you need with each sport. Remember the basics:

> play + ball

> go +ing

> do+ other activities

Check here and do some exercises on sports.

Can you play a musical instrument? Don’t you remember any musical instruments? Revise them here.

Finally, complete the interactive book below:

Prepositions of time.

Different time expressions need different prepositions.
Have a look at this table:

Preposition	Time expression	Examples
in	months	in July; in September
	years	in 1985; in 1999
	seasons	in summer; in the summer of 69
	parts of the day	in the morning; in the afternoon; in the evening
at	part of the day	at night
	time	at 6 o’clock; at midnight
	periods	at Easter; at the weekend
on	days of the week	on Sunday; on Friday
	dates	on the 25th of December*
	special holidays	on Good Friday; on Easter Sunday; on my birthday

Look at these examples:

• I have a meeting at 9am.
• The shop closes at midnight.
• In England, it often snows in December.
• Do you work on Mondays?
• Her birthday is on 20th November.
• Now, complete exercise 1, exercise2, exercise 3 and exercise 4

Ordinal Numbers.

 

Words

Just add th to the cardinal number:
:

• four – fourth
• eleven – eleventh

Exceptions:

• one – first
• two – second
• three – third
• five – fifth
• eight – eighth
• nine – ninth
• twelve – twelfth

In compound ordinal numbers, note that only the last figure is written as an ordinal number:

• 421st = four hundred and twenty-first
• 5,111th = five thousand, one hundred and eleventh

Figures

When expressed as figures, the last two letters of the written word are added to the ordinal number:

• first = 1st
• second = 2nd
• third = 3rd
• fourth = 4th
• twenty-sixth = 26th
• hundred and first = 101st

Titles

In names for kings and queens, ordinal numbers are written in Roman numbers. In spoken English, the definite article is used before the ordinal number:

• Charles II – Charles the Second
• Edward VI – Edward the Sixth
• Henry VIII – Henry the Eighth

Check pronunciation of numbers

Exercise on spelling of Ordinal Numbers

In case you need it, here you are a full table of ordinal numbers from 1st to 1,000,000th

Numbers

1	st	first	16	th	sixteenth
2	nd	second	17	th	seventeenth
3	rd	third	18	th	eighteenth
4	th	fourth	19	th	nineteenth
5	th	fifth	20	th	twentieth
6	th	sixth	21	st	twenty-first
7	th	seventh	22	nd	twenty-second
8	th	eighth	23	rd	twenty-third
9	th	ninth	24	th	twenty-fourth
10	th	tenth	25	th	twenty-fifth
11	th	eleventh	26	th	twenty-sixth
12	th	twelfth	27	th	twenty-seventh
13	th	thirteenth	28	th	twenty-eighth
14	th	fourteenth	29	th	twenty-ninth
15	th	fifteenth	30	th	thirtieth

31	st	thirty-first
40	th	fortieth
50	th	fiftieth
60	th	sixtieth
70	th	seventieth
80	th	eightieth
90	th	ninetieth
100	th	one hundredth
1,000	th	one thousandth
1,000,000	th	one millionth

Adverbs of frequency.

We use adverbs of frequency to express how often we do something.

We use them with present simple. See present simple post to revise.

Adverbs of frequency go before the verb, except verb to be. Example: She always comes to school on Mondays. Exercise 1 and exercise 2 on position.

Examples:

I always go to school by bus.

I usually get up at 7.

I often watch TV in the evening.

I sometimes have lunch in a restaurant.

I never arrive late.
Other frequency expressions:

everyday	todos los días
every + day every Thursday	todos los + día todos los jueves
on + day + “s” on Thursdays	los + día los jueves
once a month	una vez por mes
twice a month	dos veces por mes
three times a month	tres veces por mes
once a week	una vez por semana
twice a week	dos veces por semana
three times a week	tres veces por semana

Examples:
Everyday I have homework.

Every Monday I go to the gym.

On Mondays I go to the gym.

Once a month I have a test.

Twice a month I have a test.

Three times a month I have a test.

I play tennis once a week.

I play tennis twice a week.

I play tennis three times a week.
Note the position of these expressions. They can go at the beginning or at the end of a sentence.

To like or not to like.

To like is a very important verb. You use it to express things you like and you don’t like. What do you like? ¿qué te gusta? Look at the video clip to see what Rafa Nadal likes


Click here for the 35 olympic sports names and tell yourself I like….. or I don’ like……
 For example
He likes…..or he doesn’t like……
She likes……. or she doesn’t like……
To revise the formation of the present check this post and this link with exercises.
A couple of songs to finish

Time expressions.

We already know some time facts:

There are 60 seconds in one minute

There are 60 minutes in one hour.
30 minutes is called half an hour.

There are 24 hours in one day.

There are seven days in one week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There are two days on a weekend: Saturday and Sunday

There are four weeks in one month.

There are four seasons in a year: spring, summer, fall (US)/autumn (UK), or winter.

There are twelve months in one year.

All months have 30 or 31 days, except for February which has 28 days (29 in a leap year).

A leap year has 366 days instead of the normal 365. 2012 is a leap year.

	Month	Short Form	Days	Season
1	January	Jan.	31	Winter
2	February	Feb.	28/29
3	March	Mar.	31	Spring
4	April	Apr.	30
5	May	May	31
6	June	Jun.	30	Summer
7	July	Jul.	31
8	August	Aug.	31
9	September	Sep.	30	Autumn
10	October	Oct.	31
11	November	Nov.	30
12	December	Dec.	31	Winter

A period of ten years is called a decade

There are one hundred years in one century
A period of one thousand years is called a millenium

Writing and saying the date in British English: day – month – year

We use ordinal numbers to name the days of the month. Check previous post on ordinal numbers if necessary.

		day		month	year
You write:		1st		January,	2010
You say:	the	first	of	January	twenty ten

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Writing and saying the date in American English: month – day – year

	month		day	year
You write:	January,		1st	2010
You say:	January	the	first	twenty ten

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Listening exercises: What’s the date today?, complete this exercise on dates