could and can -- would and will

[sezeddy]

I have an ESL student who is asking about the correct usage of can, could, would and will. I can give him examples and we can talk about the "mood", but I am stumped to give him any kind of rule, be it hard and fast or not, to explain more fully.

Thanks.

sezeddy

[5jj]

This is far too big a topic to cover in one response. Can you give examples of any specific difficulties your student is having? Or perhaps, more to the point, what difficulties are you having?

To start with, are there two problems: (1) can vs could, and (2) will vs would? Or are all four modals getting confused?