你知道was able to與could的區別嗎

下面這一題你會做嗎?

The fire spread through the hotel quickly but everyone __________ get out.

A. had to                        B. would                        C. could                         D. was able to

此題應選D。容易誤選C(could)。這里主要涉及could與was able to的用法和區別：

1. 表示過去一般性能力時 (即某人想干什么就能干什么能力)，兩者都可用：

He could [was able to] run very fast when he was a boy. 他小時候跑得很快。

2. 表示過去特定的能力 (即某人在某一具體場合做某事的能力，往往暗示經過努力才具備的能力)，通常用was(were)able to，也可用managed to do sth或succeeded in doing sth，但是不能用 could：

他學習很努力，所以考試及了格。

正：He worked very hard and was able to [managed to] pass his examination.

誤：He worked very hard and could pass his examination.

正因為此原因，所以上面一題的答案用 ...was able to get out，而不用...could get out，因為此題談及的是一種特定場合的具體能力。(www.hz123456.com)

但值得注意的是，以上用法只適合于肯定句，若在否定句中，則可用couldn’t代替 wasn’t [weren’t] able to：

He worked hard but wasn’t able to[couldn’t] pass the exam. 他學習很努力，但考試卻未能及格。