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What's the difference between:

I'm amazed that he could paint such a piece.

I'm amazed that he can paint such a piece.

Context: A guy painted a painting and some people liked it and said the first sentence but I want to know what's the difference between could and can in these sentences.

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2 Answers 2

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he can paint = he is able to paint or he has the ability to paint

he could paint = conditions permitted or made it possible for him to paint

The "conditions" should be understood in very broad terms so that included would be any situation, state of affairs, state of mind, etc that made it possible for him to paint.

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  • He could paint = conditions or he was able to paint in the past? Jun 29, 2020 at 18:40
  • Yes, what was possible can have that sense of "able". "Before he injured his shoulder, he could play an excellent game of tennis". or "Until the newspaper put a 'pay-wall' on its website you could read any article."
    – TimR
    Jun 30, 2020 at 19:19
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"I'm amazed that he can paint such a piece" implies that he is still able to.

"Can" cannot be used if the artist is dead or has lost his mind or hands. It can only be used if the artist is alive and still able to paint well. However, in contrast, "could" does not imply that the artist is dead or has lost his ability.

If the artist were expected to paint more pieces of a similar standard, we might say "I'm amazed that he can paint such pieces" - can and the plural both become more likely in this case.

However, even if we expected the artist to produce more, we would probably still be more likely to say "I'm amazed that he could paint such a piece" when referring to a particular painting.

There is often a tendency to use past-tense forms when describing past events, even when the relevant details must still apply. For example, suppose I hear a story about a friend of mine who fell out of a boat and swam to the shore. I might say "I'm surprised he knows how to swim", or I might say "I'm surprised he knew how to swim" - with no implication that he will have forgotten how.

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