They can win the race. vs They could win the race yesterday.

The two phrases are not directly comparable because they are in different tenses and contexts. 'They can win the race' is in the present tense, indicating a possibility in the future, while 'they could win the race yesterday' is in the past tense, which doesn't make sense as 'yesterday' is already in the past. Each phrase is correct in its own context.

Last updated: March 15, 2024 • 673 views

They can win the race.

This phrase is correct and commonly used to express the possibility of winning a race in the future.

This phrase is used to talk about a potential future event, indicating that the subject has the ability or opportunity to win the race.

Examples:

They can win the race if they train hard.
With their skills, they can win the race easily.
I believe they can win the race this time.
Do you think they can win the race against such tough competition?
They can win the race if they have the right strategy.

Show examples from the web [+]

Minnesota Capitol: Women have proved they can win the race -- if persuaded to run. Bill Salisbury. Four decades after the election that shattered the glass ...
... place where speed is especially important. During a race, the snowmobiles in the track cover the distance in as little time as possible, so they can win the race.
Sep 24, 2014 ... As focused as they are on making sure they can win the race, the two know that they'll be able to work well as a team-meaning they could be a ...
Jan 19, 2015 ... ... people with their cars in order to acquire points so that they can win the race ( never mind actually getting first place in the actual race itself).

They could win the race yesterday.

This phrase is grammatically correct but doesn't make sense as 'yesterday' refers to a specific time in the past, and the use of 'could' for past ability or possibility is not suitable in this context.

The phrase 'could win' is used to talk about past ability or possibility, but when combined with 'yesterday,' it creates a contradiction in time references.

Examples:

They could have won the race yesterday if they had participated.
I thought they could win the race yesterday, but they didn't even show up.
They could win the race yesterday if they had the right equipment.
Could they have won the race yesterday if they had trained harder?
I believed they could win the race yesterday, but it was canceled due to bad weather.

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

They can win the race. vs They could win the race yesterday.