Is it could or can?

Question

Therefore in this case, it could be proved that computers do not slow reading speed down in the conditions of academic and daily reading.

Should this be could or can?

Also, if you find any better ways to improve the sentence please feel free to change or correct it :)

If this is true say: It's proven. Otherwise could be proved sounds correct but not very convincing. — dcaswell, Sep 05 '13 at 18:12

Pharap · Answer 1 · 2013-09-06T03:16:44.857

Both can be used, but depending on your choice the tone of the piece would change. Could implies that the item in question is a possibility, whereas can implies that it is definitive. (Personally I would choose can as it seems that you are writing to persuade or to provide bias evidence as opposed to an unbiased view/balanced argument).

As for additional changes, I suggest that you change "proved" to "proven", remove redundancies such as the 'in this case' after 'therefore' and change the ordering slightly.

This is a completely butchered version that demonstrates how word ordering and choice of words can drastically affect the tone of a piece of writing:

"Therefore, it can be proven that the use of computers does not negatively impact reading speed, regardless of whether the context is academic or day to day reading."

Is that last sentence worded correctly, or is there an extra word floating around? — Pieter Geerkens, Sep 06 '13 at 03:14
Sorry, that happens sometimes when editing as opposed to constructing. :P — Pharap, Sep 06 '13 at 03:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 05 '13 at 18:15

0

Therefore, in this case, it could be proven that computers do not slow reading speed down in the conditions of academic and daily reading.

OR

Therefore, in this case, it can be proven that computers do not slow reading speed down in the conditions of academic and daily reading.

I think it really just depends on whether you are trying to say that at some point in the past it could be proven, or whether it still can be proven, but I think you want "can" if you are trying to prove a still-valid point.

answered Sep 05 '13 at 18:15

VoidKing

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2

Don't think we didn't notice your substitution of proven for proved. – Sam Sep 05 '13 at 21:39
@Sam xD, lol. Is that bad? I figured that was what he was after, but I guess, if not, sry, didn't mean to change something he didn't want changed. Let me know, if I need to change it back or something. – VoidKing Sep 05 '13 at 21:53
@Sam Honestly, though, doesn't my answer still work either way? – VoidKing Sep 05 '13 at 21:54

Is it could or can?

2 Answers2