Lesson 15 - Part 3/3 - What else can you do? - Exercise 3g

Can Michelle sing?

Michelle with subtitles:
Use CAPITAL (UPPER CASE) letters when necessary.

The interviewer asks: So, you can sing?
Michelle answers: " "
Her boyfriend, Richard, is somewhat more positive. He answers:
"A little bit. "
In any case, she is not dreadful like Helen!

Can she sing something now for us? Yes she can! But she doesn't want to. Maybe she's timid or shy.

This is an important distinction. "Can" in this lesson is about being able to do something. But when the interviewer asks "Can you sing something now for us?", the interviewer is using "Can" to make a request (a request, by the way, is the act of asking) which is the second most important way we use "Can" and "Could". For example, in lessons 3 and 6, the interviewers ask "What's your name?" and "Can you spell it?" or "Could you spell it?".
We know that the people in lessons 3 and 6 are able to spell their names. In those lessons, the interviewer is making a request ("Can you spell it?") or a more polite request ("Could you spell it?").