Present and Past Ability Bluff
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Different past forms of can practice through a fun lying game.
Lesson Plan Content:
Talking about present and past ability bluff
Present and past abilities lying game
Your partner will choose one of the sentences below for you to complete. Say a whole sentence, using your imagination if you can’t think of anything true. Perhaps after asking you for more details, the other students will guess if your sentence is true or false.
- I can…
- I (still) can’t…
- I can’t… yet.
- I could… but I can’t anymore.
- I was able to… but I can’t anymore.
- I couldn’t… when I was… but I can now.
- I wasn’t able to… when I was… but I can now.
- I couldn’t… when I was…
- I wasn’t able to… when…
- I couldn’t… until I was…
- I wasn’t able to… until I was….
- Luckily, I was able to… when…
- Luckily, I managed to… when…
- Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to…
- Unfortunately, I couldn’t…
- Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to… when…
Past abilities grammar presentation
Why can’t you say “Luckily, I could… when…”? Why would “manage to” be okay in that sentence?
Why can’t you say “I didn’t manage to… when I was… but I can now”? Why would “could” be okay in that sentence?
Which forms can be used to talk about past general abilities, e.g. when you are a certain age?
Which forms can be used to talk about particular moments in time, e.g. when you are telling a story? How about with negative verbs?
Which form is the most generally useable to talk about past abilities, and so is the safe choice if you aren’t sure which ones are right?
Suggested answers
Why can’t you say “Luckily, I could… when…”?
“Could” is only used for a general ability, not for doing something at a particular point in time as in a story.
Why can’t you say “I didn’t manage to… when I was… but I can now”?
“Manage to” is only used for doing something at a particular point in time, not for a general ability in the past.
Which forms can be used to talk about past general abilities, e.g. when you are a certain age?
“could”, “was/were able to”
Which forms can be used to talk about particular moments in time, e.g. when you are telling a story?
“was able to/ were able to”, “managed to”
How about with negative verbs?
“couldn’t”, “wasn’t able to/ weren’t able to”, “didn’t manage to”
Which form is the most generally useable to talk about past abilities, and so is the safe choice if you aren’t sure which ones are right?
“was/ were able to”
Terms of Use
Lesson plans & worksheets can be used by teachers without any fee in the classroom; however, please ensure you keep all copyright information and references to UsingEnglish.com in place.
You will need Adobe Reader to view these files.
