Tuesday, September 22, 2015

modal verbs - Could vs. was able to


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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