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I am learning grammar and I feel some confusion between the usage of can I and could I. Is there some rule I should use?

Brian Hitchcock
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Kaung Sint Lwin
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  • The words are used in several contexts. Perhaps if you posted sentences with the two words. – deadrat Aug 26 '15 at 02:57
  • Sorry, no hard and fast rule. The good news is that this is an area where you probably won't get in any hot water for using the "wrong" one! – aparente001 Aug 26 '15 at 12:12

1 Answers1

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"Can I" is directly asking if (whatever), where as "Could I" is more of a hypothetical situation.

Yeshe
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  • Can I have some water? vs May I have some water? vs. Could I have a glass of water? and Can I park here? vs Could I park here? What about: Can you swim? vs Could you swim? Is just hypothetical? And: Can I fly tomorrow? vs. Could I fly tomorrow? If you're going to answer a question like this, you're going to have to go into more detail. This "answer" is fine as a comment, nothing else. – Mari-Lou A Aug 26 '15 at 07:24