<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/ae9d5347-5fad-437a-9c66-e1d57ba5513f/5EBA899A-C236-4798-A072-E38FD57C606D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=146362" href="http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=146362" style="font-size: 11px;">www.onestopenglish.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=146362"><P><EM>Could</EM>, of course, functions as the past tense of <EM>can</EM>, and like other past forms, it sometimes simply indicates past time: <EM>In those days there was no security and anybody could walk in, day or night.</EM></P> <P>But, like the past forms of other verbs, it can also indicate things like tentativeness, indirectness, deference and a wish not to impose. Compare:</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir="ltr"> <DIV class="boxout">I wanted to have a word with you (now)</DIV> <DIV class="boxout">I wondered if you needed any help (now)</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><STRONG>with:</STRONG></P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir="ltr"> <DIV class="boxout">I want to have a word with you</DIV> <DIV class="boxout">I wonder if you need any help</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>The last two examples are more direct; the first two are more tentative, and possibly more polite – though that depends on other factors, too.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/5EBA899A-C236-4798-A072-E38FD57C606D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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