Question

Read the following sentences from the text. Analyse the usage of ‘could’ and match the sentences with their functions given in the box below.

Past ability or purpose	Possibility
Past possibility or speculation	Unreal or hypothetical situation

1. It could be in any field,sports, science, arts, business or design.
2. “I wish I could be this or the other,” they have never got beyond just wishful thinking.
3. They could have preferred to trade their dream for security.
4. I know too, of people who had wished to finish secondary school but they had to go out to work so that they could support their siblings through school.

Answer 1

1. Possibility
2. Unreal or hypothetical situation
3. Past possibility or speculation
4. Past ability or purpose