Could you possibly help me please by answering this question..
“He has a new sports car now. He …….. it for a good price. He paid 20 percent less than the regular retail cost.”
- was able to buy
- could buy
- was supposed to buy
- had to buy
Thanks
Answer
"He has a new sports car now. He …….. it for a good price. He paid 20 percent less than the regular retail cost."
- was able to buy
- could buy
- was supposed to buy
- had to buy
The test which the OP sourced this question from is not very good. They invented this question to test learners’ understanding of some differences between the modal verb could and the BE + adjective combination, be able (to X).
Generally speaking, could either refers to a general ability in the past, or something that is a hypothetical possibility. It doesn’t usually give us the idea that the Subject actually did do the action we’re talking about at a specific time.
Was able to, on the other hand, often does give us the impression that the Subject managed to do that thing.
- She could undo her seat belt and escape from the car. (It was a possibility)
- She was able to undo her seat belt and escape from the car. (She managed to do it)
In the original test question, the tester wants answer (1), because the man did manage to buy the car for a good price.
The problem is that this is a bad test question: we use was able to in this way when it gives us important information about whether the subject managed to do this thing or not. Here we already know that the man bought the car. The sentence with was able is awkward. In real life, it would be much better to just say "He bought it for a good price"!
But – in real life we also have to do tests and exams about English. So it’s important to know that if you get a question about was able to and could, the question might be about whether the subject actually managed to do that thing.
We need to know what the examiner wants – even if they’re not very clever. So you have to learn to give the examiners what they want! The Golden Rule for exams:
- Give the monkey what he wants!
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Mrt , Answer Author : Araucaria – Not here any more.