English Grammar: How to use the auxiliary verb ‘COULD’

Hi, teacher Gill.Thank you for teaching us English. I have a question about punctuation mark, and hoping you could answer and correct me. I always put a commma before IF. For example, in your video, the 3rd sentence: You could get good marks in the exam, if you study every day. This is what my normal practice to put a comma before “if”. But I read in a lot of places without a comma

lan1301

hi Ian – thanks for your question. It’s not essential to put a comma before ‘if’ – it depends on the structure of the sentence, and often it’s quite an instinctive thing. In a short sentence it’s not so important, for example “He asked me if I was going to the party.” I hope this is helpful :-)

Gill

Ha, I hope I have more instinct on learning English grammar. Anyway, thank you for your replied.
Have a nice day.

lan1301

I like the way you teaching English. I am getting confused about how to use narration correctly in daily speaking English or written English. please could you tell me about it in detail?

Bir Bahadur Basnet

Hi teacher Gill
What is the difference if we use ‘can’ instead of ‘could’ in the sentence number 3 ?

nasirahmad@khairi

Continue: before ‘if’, so I start wonder is it my normal practices are actually wrong? Please enlighten me.

lan1301

Hi Ian,

Actually, there is a simple rule:

When the IF clause is the first in the sentence, it is followed by a comma. If the IF clause is the second clause, then normally there is no comma (unless the clause is just an extension/additional information to the sentence). The same applies to the usage of WHEN. A few examples:

If I don’t know the person, I am less friendlier towards them.
She could study in France if she spoke the language.
Wake me up when you arrive.
When you arrive, give me a call.

All the best,
David

David

Thank you for the explanation, David.
Have a nice day to you.

lan1301

Why not?I think that you could have been in a Hollywood film.
Thanks for this interesting lesson Mrs Gill.

Riccardo S

Thank you, Teacher…

fuatt

Gill, i got more familiar with the word, could, thanks to your course.

ChunWei

Thank you for an useful lesson. I had so much pleasure to listen it. Clear voice, easy to recognise every word you saying. By the way , Actually You could’ve been a moviestar , coz when you said about that oportunity, I Imagined you as an actor in some comedy scene )) Dunno why

JackInkiev

Got 10 out 10 ))

JackInkiev

Thank you very much.

Soei

Great lesson,as usual Thank you very much.

zigmund

I could have done 10 out of 10, but I missed one.

pakpao

My first lesson and very very useful video thank you so much Gill

konya42

Nice lesson, thank you Gill!

Roberto

Excellent lesson Gill, thanks a lot ;)

knopfler86

Thanks, I have gotten 90% ,but I could have100 % if I concentrate to the lesson explanation carefully.
Does this sentence correct ?

hassouna

Hello, ….concerated on…

Soei

Thanks, you are right.

Also I think you need to correct your sentence which you have written on your profile
(I am learning) and not I learning

hassouna

I think you are making a mistake. My sentence is correct. Check it again please.

Soei

Agree, your sentence is correct
Kind regards

hassouna

Many thanks; you are right.

hassouna

Thank you, Ms. Gill, for this lesson ??

VALE.J

A very useful lesson. Thank you.

Hazzele

Thanks a lot madam. It’s an important lesson for me.

Muhammadali2018

Miss! I got 70 in the test. I have figured out all of my errors except question number 8. Please explain me how come there is ‘possibly’? And how come there is not possible’

NURUZZAMAN 1420

hi Nuruzzaman – the correct answer is “could you possibly …” – ‘possible’ is the adjective, ‘possibly’ is the adverb. The adjective goes with a noun, the adverb goes with a verb. So “Could you possibly SPEAK more slowly” (speak = verb), or “It’s not possible for me to speak more slowly” (possible = adjective referring to ‘it’). I hope this helps :-)

Gill

you’re great my dear teacher !!!!!

dr.besir

All Thanks you,MS GILL

Diyoke stephen

thanks dona.

Amir Tighnavard

I got 10 correct out of 10. Thank you Gill.

Jun Shao

Good lesson.Thanks.

achubak79

Thanks Gill. Good Lesson.

JoseSotoE

thank teacher for the lesson

yazmin camacho

Thanks for the tutorial?

0908mimi

Hi thank`s a lot. Your lessons are very interesting, useful and fascinating . Bless you!

Till

Hello, Could I ask You?
You use always word “could ” in present tense. But in quiz 2 question is using past tense. Why?

Kriscia77

I even got 90 out 100 lol, The lessons was very interesting

Mataka

Such a useful and interesting lesson.
Thanks Mrs:Gill

Kamran Ali Soomro

Excellent lesson.Thank you very much.(10×10)

zigmund

Thank you, Gill. I got 9 out of 10. I missed question 7. I selected “was able to” instead of “used to be able to.” It sounds correct to me. Could you please explain to me why it is not a correct answer?

pen2009

I got 9 of 10 and got more information about adverb and adjective through Mam Gil’s answer to the one who asked her. Thank you Madam.

Sonya Aiko Ilona

Thank you, Gill!

George C

10/10
Best thing was pointing out the common mistake of COULD OF use instead of COULD’VE.

Great lesson. “Could you please make more such videos with comparision such as the use of could, might, may, shall, should, must. That will be very kind of you.

Ashifa

Its really fantastic .
Thank you Gill,!!!!!

mokaramm1

Thank you so much!! I love this website so much.

TsaiChiHuang

Hi! teacher Grill. Im so glap that i know this website because can help me improve my English and also listening. Thanks so much i hope have more video about grammar so that i can learn more.

Phaly

Thanks. I have never hadn’t a idea “could” is capable of being a auxiliary verb. From now i get it ! and it’s gonna be helpful for me to understand English more easily.

JayLee

THANK YOU TEACHER GILL!YOU ARE FANTASTIC!

FRANCESCO TWINKLE

Thank you Gill….I love your lessons…

Fab69

Hi teacher Gill. Many thank for your great effort my teacher , I like your explanation , I always find yours.

Mabdelhady

Thank you.

gitar

Hi Mrs Gill I ask about the 4,5 condition I didn’t understand it very well could you explain more or give me another example I get 7/10 because I didn’t see the verb ING so I used able to and the other mistake I saw you explain it in the above comments could you possibly speak and the other mistake was about condition 5

S.abdallah

I could be wrong, but I think you couldn’t have taught it better. Thank you.

JMAB

Thank you Gill, I liked your method of teaching.

imamraza

thanks

ataala

Hi Gil… I have answared all the questions correctly, but I’ve got 90%. One of my answers have been changed out of my control. Is this kind of action could be happened usually by the quiz software normally?

All my greeting for you.

wissam63

Teacher Gill, thank you for inspiring me.

Vedrana

:D thanks. i could have done better. dr. strange

jack0910

Gill, thank you so much for lesson.

Karissima

I could have scored 10 out pf 10 but i missed one …
thanks to gill
I could be wrong about the following sentence please correct me if i am wrong
1)i could wake up early but i sleep little late.
2)i could have been gone to Australia but i didnt get a chance
3) at one time i could be a blogger like gill but i am not as capable as gill
please correct me if i am wrong anywhere your comments can be appreciated.

faw786

thank you for good lesson about how to use could in different different way. thank you so much

Rxtejas

Thank you for this good explanation. Short and to the point!

OusamaMarina

thank you for this lesson. I’ve got a question. Is it correct to say that would is the past form of will when you use will for making promises or offering things? (obviously one of the use of would)

Mojtaba.mn

WONDERFUL LESSON, THANK YOU

piema

I could have better degree in the exam but I took exam quickly.

Yusuf

Thanks for the wonderful lesson

Daely

Lovely lesson !

amychoi62

Got 80 but really wonderfull.

Masih John varsha

Hi Gill! it’s a beautiful lesson as always. I adore your way of teaching, speaking and how you explain the subject! Thank you infinitely! <3.

AlessandroItaly

Gill, thank you for this lesson. I learned again some things.

Peter.Alistair

Thank you, dear teacher!

Vida

Thanks Gill. Could I ask you to do more such interesting lesson. By the way I have got 9

Andrii15

Dear Gill, thanks a lot for all the lessons provided to us, They are too helpfull. So,
Could you please let me know the different betwen a Present continuous tense and Present participle tense?

Clovis Mwamba

thank you very much ! Gill.

niteshdodi

I got 9.Thank you for this lessons now I had a clearer understanding in using,should,would and could.Amazing….

Ma.elzeera

I got 9 out of 10. I’m still watching your videos to improve my English and it helps me a lot. Thank you teacher.

Maki@Eng

Thanks teacher Gill, I had some mistakes but I’m going to study.

Pedro Alejandro

A million thanks for you outstanding lesson mam.It’s so useful,more informative and very clear.I like the way you teach it ‘s easy to get any point from the lesson.you have explained eloquently.you are great,amazing and elegant mam.could you make more lessons on English please?