Learn English – Was able to vs. wasn’t able to

grammar

I'm doubtful as to whether these two sentences are correct.

I wasn't able to ride a bike until I was 20.

I was able to ride a bike until I was 20.

My suspicion is that only the first sentence is correct, but I don't know why the second should be wrong. However, I feel that the second will be better with past perfect in place of simple past:

I had been able to ride a bike until I was 20.

Best Answer

All three of your sentences are grammatically well-formed, but they mean different things.

  1. I wasn't able to ride a bike until I was 20 means that you learned how to ride a bike when you were 20—before that you could not ride a bike.

  2. I was able to ride a bike until I was 20 means that before you were 20 you were able to ride a bike but at that age something happened—perhaps you lost a leg!—after which you were no longer able to ride a bike.

  3. I had been able to ride a bike until I was 20 describes the same sequence of events of facts as 2., but is used when your current topic is a past situation—some time before the present but after your 20th year. For instance:

    When I was in graduate school some years ago, a friend invited me to go on a bicycle trip. I had to decline; I had been able to ride a bike until I was 20, but in my junior year I was in an accident that messed up my ankle.

The preposition until designates a timespan lasting up to the timepoint named by its object, and ending at that point.

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