[Grammar] can/might

[aggiesteph]

Hello,

I have a grammar question regarding can/ might and would be grateful if someone could clarify the answer for me.

It's an exercise from New English File Upper Intermediate Workbook.

In the given sentence one is expected to chose the correct alternative:

Be careful! The floor might/ can be slippery because it's just been cleaned.

The correct answer is might. Why not can?

 

[Tarheel]

The two words mean different things. If you have used water on the floor to clean it then you could expect it to be slippery. (Might.) But if you say it can be slippery you are talking about a possibility, thus:

A: This floor can be slippery.
B: Why would that be?
A: Maybe somebody has spilled water on it.


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[MikeNewYork]

In your sentence you can also use "could" or "may". All four modal verbs can indicate possibility.

 

[aggiesteph]

The two words mean different things. If you have used water on the floor to clean it then you could expect it to be slippery. (Might.) But if you say it can be slippery you are talking about a possibility, thus:

A: This floor can be slippery.
B: Why would that be?
A: Maybe somebody has spilled water on it.


​

Thank you for your answer. That is how I umderstood the two sentences, but does the meaning of the secone one necessairly exclude its usage in the given context? Because although the floor has just been cleaned it may or may not be slippery, which to my mind indicates a possibility(the speaker knows from experience that this floor is often slippery when wet) so I would think can is an option. But the answer key says otherwise.

 

[aggiesteph]

MikeNewYork, thank you for your answer. I know that all four of them are used to convey possibility, but in this particular context is can really not an option?

 

[MikeNewYork]

For me, "can" is an option.

 

[Tarheel]

Hello,

I have a grammar question regarding can/ might and would be grateful if someone could clarify the answer for me.

It's an exercise from New English File Upper Intermediate Workbook.

In the given sentence one is expected to chose the correct alternative:

Be careful! The floor might/ can be slippery because it's just been cleaned.

The correct answer is might. Why not can?

Specifically, the floor is wet, so it might be slippery. Use "can" to talk about a more general possibility. (A floor can be slippery.)

(I would just say the floor is wet.)

 

[bhaisahab]

For me "can" is not an option.

 

[aggiesteph]

For me "can" is not an option.

Could this then be a British vs. American difference? Because the book that does not give can as an answer focuses on British English. I am more familiar with Amrican English and to me can sounded like something I have heard people say, that is why I posted the question.

 

[MikeNewYork]

It may well be. I have certainly heard it in AmE.

 

[emsr2d2]

In the context you gave, talking about a specific floor, I would accept:

The floor might be slippery because it has just been cleaned.
The floor could be slippery because it has just been cleaned.

If I were giving general information, I would use:

Floors can be slippery when they have just been cleaned.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I would accept those and "This floor can be slippery after it has been cleaned."