grammar question: Difference between "can" and "could" i.e. You can / could make more money....?
Hello, I'm confused about the difference in meaning between the words "can" and "could". What is the difference in meaning of the two following sentences? 1. You "can" make more money investing in China than you "can" investing in America. 2. You "could" make more money investing in China than you "could" investing in America.
Words & Wordplay - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
can is in the present most times could is in the future or past tense. You could buy gas for 75 cents a gallon in 1986,you can buy gas for 2.75 in 2010 and i suppose we could see prices as high as 5 dollars soon. we never can tell.
2 :
"Can" is present tense. "Could" (like "should," "would," and "might")is used two ways. It's the past tense of "can," as in "You could make more money investing in America fifty years ago than you can today," and it's also the conditional form of "can," as in "You could make lots of money investing in China if you had enough to start with." In the first sentence, "could" means "were able to." In the second, it means "would be able to." Does thios clear things up for you?
3 :
I believe that can asks if you are capable, could asks if you are willing
4 :
In your examples, I am taking can as the present indicative and could as the present subjunctive (not the past tense). So, for #1 you definitely will make more money investing in China. For #2, you might be able to make more money investing in China, but it is not definite. The subjunctive mood is a conditional mood; certain things must happen for it to come true. You need to meet those conditions in order to make more money in China.
