Cause dan Condition Time dan Place
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Modul Guru Pembelajar Bahasa Inggris Kelompok Kompetensi Profesional J
d. Possibility We use can to express possibility or to question possibilities, for
example: We can go to Rome in June because both of us have a
week off work. It is possible for us to go to Rome because we don‟t have to work in June.
Well, how can you be on a diet if you buy so much chocolate? I don‟t think it‟s possible that you are on a diet
because you still buy lots of chocolate.
e. Guessing and Predicting When we want to guess or predict something, we use
can‘t as the negative form of must. We use
can‘t have + -ed form as the negative form of must have + -
ed. Can‘t and can‘t have + -ed form express strong possibility.
Look at the following dialogue: A: Who owns this blue coat? It must be yours.
B: It can‟t be mine. It‟s too big. A uses must to guess that the
coat belongs to B. He sees this as a strong possibility. B uses can‘t to express strong negative possibility. The coat is
too big, so it isn‘t his. A: Roy must have made a lot of money.
B: He can‟t have done. He doesn‟t even own a house. A
makes a deduction that Roy has made a lot of money. B sees this as very unlikely and so expresses it as a negative
possibility. f. Request
We use can as a question form to make requests: Those cakes look so good. Can I try one?
Can I have your surname? Can you help me with this form?
Modul Guru Pembelajar Bahasa Inggris Kelompok Kompetensi Profesional J
15 g. Reproches
We use can‘t as a question form to ask people to stop doing something w
e don‘t want them to do, or to do something they are not doing which we want them to do:
Can‟t you stop making that awful noise? Why can‟t you just be nice to her instead of upsetting her?
h. Offers We use can as a question form to make offers:
Can I help you lift that? Can we do anything for you?