Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

Lilian Cristina · Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 18

Please, I'd like to know the difference between these two sentences:

Could you see Beck this weekend ?

Are you likely to see Beck this weekend ?

Thanks

Suzanne · Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 283 Location: Seattle, WA, USA

They are really similar, and could be used to ask the same question.

From a native speaker's perspective, there is a slight difference.

#1 Could you see Beck this weekend ? This means "Is it possible that you could see Beck this weekend?"

#2 Are you likely to see Beck this weekend ? This means "You probably do things on the weekends. Will you be going to see Beck?"

It's a small difference, but #2 assumes more than #1.