he could not have done that vs he was not able to to that

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in slightly different contexts. 'He could not have done that' is often used to express disbelief or impossibility, while 'He was not able to do that' simply states that he lacked the ability to do something.

Last updated: March 22, 2024

he could not have done that

This phrase is correct and commonly used to express disbelief or impossibility.

This phrase is used to indicate that someone was unable to do something due to impossibility or disbelief.

Examples:

He could not have done that because he was out of town.
She could not have won the race without training.
They could not have known about the surprise party.
I could not have finished the project without your help.
The cat could not have opened the door by itself.

Alternatives:

He couldn't have done that
It was impossible for him to have done that

he was not able to to that

This phrase is correct and commonly used to indicate a lack of ability to do something.

This phrase is used to state that someone did not have the capability or skill to do something.

Examples:

He was not able to finish the race due to an injury.
She was not able to solve the math problem without help.
They were not able to attend the meeting because of a prior commitment.
I was not able to lift the heavy box on my own.
The dog was not able to catch the fast squirrel.

Show examples from the web [+]

He was not able to marry her.
Because Andy seemed to think there was some information he was not able to share with me.
He pleads infringement of the rights of the defence, claiming that he was not able to defend his interests before the contested decisions were adopted.
but with an expression as though he was not able to.
I would like to thank the President-in-Office for the reply, but I am rather disappointed that he was not able to give me more specific details about the number of proposals that they had been consulted on.
In case of point (a) of paragraph 2, the reference year shall be 2005 if the importer concerned can prove that he was not able to import or export the required quantities of milk products during 2006 as a result of exceptional circumstances.
As he was not able to receive the prize in person last year, perhaps it could be combined with the next part-session ceremony for the presentation of the Sakharov Prize to Mrs Ghezali?
I was not able to find out why your brother went to Portland.
I was not able to make them too stable.
I was not able to teach her that.
Because soon the water was not able to reach these areas.
I was not able to keep track of him.
I was not able to exploit it.
Therefore, the company was not able to demonstrate that it operated without significant State interference.
Tom was not able to quit smoking.
The system was not able to cope with this additional workload.
However, the industry was not able to support this claim with enough verifiable evidence.
Was not able to write data to the %1 process.
Was not able to read data from the %1 process.
Anjuta was not able to automatically determine the encoding of the file you want to open.

Alternatives:

He couldn't do that
He lacked the ability to do that

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

he could not have done that vs he was not able to to that