grammaticality - "Will be able to"


One of my friends told me that "will be able to" is a wrong phrase. Able doesn't fit with will. Is this true?



Answer



He has it backwards. The modal verb can, which means the same thing as to be able to, cannot be put into the future. If you want to say that modern medicine has the ability to cure cancer, you could say:



We can cure cancer.



or



We are able to cure cancer.



If you want to say that modern medicine will have the ability to cure cancer in the future, even if it currently doesn't, you don't say



*We will can cure cancer.



but instead, you say



We will be able to cure cancer.



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