Common Problems in English Usage

care for, take care of, and be careful

"Take care" is an English phrase that is similar to ªuÑC­Ýðt­ø­€ªv, but in general, the meaning of "take care of" is quite different from ªuÑC­Ýðt­ø­Žªv. The meaning of ªuÑC­Ýðt­ø­Žªvcould be translated as "be careful (to/about)" or "watch out for" or even "pay attention to."

"Take care" is an abbreviation of "take care of yourself." "Take care of has almost the same meaning as care for. They both mean "to do necessary things for someone or something; to be responsible for someone or something." (care for can also mean "to love someone.")

An example:

I'm sorry I can't come to your party, but I have to stay home and take care of my grandmother; she's not well.

could in contrast to was able to

These two phrases are almost the same in meaning, but there are some cases in which one sounds more natural than the other. In particular, when you are emphasizing something that you actually did, was able to sounds better.

O.K.:
Even though the train was crowded, I could get a seat.
Better:
Even though the train was crowded, I was able to get a seat.

Could is not incorrect in the example above, but was able to sounds more natural and emphasizes the fact that you actually did get a seat. This is probably because could is more often used to describe events that did not actually happen, but that might have happened if the situation had been different. In other words, could is often used to describe counter-factual events. The next sentence is an example of this.

Here, the writer's is emphasizing that there are empty seats available if he wants to sit; however, he is choosing to stand instead .

In this example, the implication is that the writer actually did not get up early, did not get to the station early, and so did not get a seat.
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