study hard or you won't pass the exam

By Admin 09/02/2024 0

You can pass the exam if you study hard.

Does can mean possibilty or ability?

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If it means possibility, does it express a possibility lower than vãn "will"?

You will pass the exam if you study hard.

Thanks.

    • You can pass the exam if you study hard.

    Here "can" means ability.

    You will be able to tướng pass the exam if you study hard.


    You will pass the exam if you study hard.

    Here "will" is not possiblity. It is certainty. "You will pass" is the future tense of "you pass".

    Since these two sentences both talk about the prediction of future, which sound more certain? can or will ?

    Here "can" means ability.

    This is not a prediction. "You can pass the exam" is not a prediction.
    "You will pass the exam" is a prediction, but it isn't uncertain. It is definite.

    Some uncertain predictions are:
    - you might pass the exam
    - you could pass the exam
    - maybe you'll pass the exam
    - possibly you'll pass the exam

    You can pass the exam if you study hard.

    That means "after studying hard, you will have the ability to tướng pass the exam".

    It does not say that you will pass the exam, because it does not say that you will take (sit) the exam.

    Perhaps you won't take it, for various reasons (it happens a lot in TV dramas, but maybe in real life too).
    Perhaps you will take the exam, but intentionally fail (that happens in TV dramas too. I saw one last week).

    That means "after studying hard, you will have the ability to tướng pass the exam".

    It does not say that you will pass the exam, because it does not say that you will take (sit) the exam.

    No, it doesn't. But in reality, chances are good that people will take the exam.

    Perhaps you won't take it, for various reasons (it happens a lot in TV dramas, but maybe in real life too).
    Perhaps you will take the exam, but intentionally fail (that happens in TV dramas too. I saw one last week).

    I hear of such cases in real life too.

    So based on your argument, I think will pass is more certain than vãn can pass.

    You will pass...90-100% certainty
    You can pass ...80-90% certainty, because there is a possibility that you won't take the exam or intentionally fail, however small the possibility is.

    No, it doesn't. But in reality, chances are good that people will take the exam.

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    I agree. Definitely. That is the whole purpose of all that "studying hard", right?

    I am making a distinction between "what it says" and "how it is used (almost always)". Maybe that isn't important to tướng you. Maybe you care about "how it is used", and not the other. I'm lượt thích that, when I study a foreign language.

    Maybe you even know things that native speakers don't know. It happens.