Page 67 - Basic English Usage

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Requests

We can ask people to do things by saying Can you ... ?or Could you
. ?(more polite); or Do you think you could ... ?
‘Can you put the children to bed?’ ‘Yes, all right.’
‘Could you lend me five pounds until tomorrow?’ ‘Yes, of course.’
‘Do you think you could help me for a few minutes?’ ‘Sorry, I'm
afraid I'm busy.’

Orders
We can use you can/could to tell people to do things.
When you've finished the washing up you can clean the kitchen. Then
you could iron the clothes, if you like.

81 can with remember, understand, speak, play, see,
hear, feel, taste and smell

remember, understand, speak, play
These verbs usually mean the same with or without can.
! (can) remember London during the war.
She can speak Greek / She speaks Greek.
/ can’/don’t understand.
Can/Do you play the piano?

see, hear, feel, smell, taste
We do not use these verbs in progressive tenses when they refer to
perception (receiving information through the eyes, ears etc). To talk
about seeing, hearing etc at a particular moment, we often use can see,
can hear etc.
/ can see Susan coming. (NOT Hrtrseeing ... )
! can hear somebody coming up the stairs.
What did you put in the stew? | can taste something funny.

82 close and shut

Close and shut can often be used with the same meaning.
Open your mouth and close/shut your eyes.
| can't close/shut the window. Can you help me?
The past participles closed and shut can be used as adjectives.
The post office is closed/shut on Saturday afternoon.
Shut is not usually used before a noun.
a closed door (NOT -a-shutdeer)
closed eyes (NOT shut eyes)