Thursday, March 2, 2017

meaning - Are "was/were able to" and "could" interchangeable?

In a grammar book, the claim was made that in the following sentences one cannot substitute "was/were able to" with "could."





  • The fire spread through the building very quickly, but everyone was able to escape.


  • They didn't want to come with us at first, but finally we were able to persuade them






However, when I searched for the term "finally could" in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, I found some counter-examples. Here are two examples from COCA:





  • I told her to get in line. Did it make you feel better? It did. I finally could say something.


  • Then, when it ended and I finally could get my family back, it came at a price, like suddenly being blind.






Are these examples grammatically incorrect?



Remark:
I asked the same question here.
It got a few answers, but unfortunately I don't find them very persuasive (my apology for those who kindly answered).

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