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Can one say

a. I grabbed the spoon before it hit the floor.

b. I grabbed the spoon before it could hit the floor.

c. I grabbed the spoon before it was able hit the floor.

?

Do they mean the same?

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  • I like (a) and (b), but agree that (c) is clunky and awkward.
    – J.R. ♦
    Jun 9, 2017 at 8:55

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The first two are fine, but the third is a little awkward since the spoon has no "ability" to affect the outcome of its fall -- it is certainly going to hit the floor unless something else stops it. "It was able" applies better when the subject has some kind of conscious volition, or if the action is somehow uncertain. For example:

I caught the cat before she was able to sneak outside.

The main character in the movie doused the fire before it was able to set off the explosives that would have killed everyone.

In this context "could" is fine since it only talks about the chance of something happening, and does not specifically imply the object has the ability to affect the outcome.

I caught the cat before she could sneak outside.

The wind blew out the campfire before it could ignite the larger pieces of wood.

Also the verb "caught" sounds better than "grabbed" in the context of something falling:

I caught the apple before it could hit the ground.

She caught the eggs before they could splatter all over the kitchen floor.

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  • You can also use "is able to" to describe the manner in which a tool or machine performs its function - e.g. "This machine is able to sew 10,000 stitches per minute".
    – PMV
    Jun 9, 2017 at 6:08
  • I'm not sure about "could" because there's no uncertainty. The campfire example is something that has a possibility of happening but isn't guaranteed to happen. That also has the element of ability to ignite the larger pieces, so that's another use of "could" ("can"). In all of the gravity examples, hitting the ground is a certainty and involves no ability.
    – fixer1234
    Jun 9, 2017 at 6:16
  • Thank you all so much. How about: She killed him before he killed her. (She prevented him killing her by killing him.) Is that OK or do we need 'before he could/was able to kill her')?
    – azz
    Jun 9, 2017 at 6:59
  • @fixer - I'm in agreement with this answer more than your initial comment; I think could works fine in this context, but was able is rather awkward. It seems before it could fall is relatively idiomatic.
    – J.R. ♦
    Jun 9, 2017 at 7:33
  • @PMV thanks, there are many diverse cases when "it was able" is OK to use, perhaps too many to list. "I stopped the machine before it was able to finish the stitching" is also perfectly natural.
    – Andrew
    Jun 9, 2017 at 14:57

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