A grammar book says that in the following sentences we must not use "could" instead of "was/were able to".
The fire spread through the building very quickly, but everyone was able to escape.
They didn't want to come with us at first, but finally we were able to persuade them
However, when I searched the English language corpus COCA by "finally could", I found some counter-examples. Here are two examples from COCA.
I told her to get in line. Did it make you feel better? It did. I finally could say something.
Then, when it ended and I finally could get my family back, it came at a price, like suddenly being blind.
Are these examples grammatically incorrect?
Edit(Jun. 5, 2014) I posted the same question here.
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