Expressing ability

Can and be able to
Can and be able to are both used to express ability. However, can only has present tense (can) and past tense (could) forms. If another form of the verb is required, be able to is used.
Present: She can/is able to speak two languages.
Past: She could/was able to read when she was three.
Infinitive: I'd like to be able to run.
Present perfect: She's never been able to save money.
Will future: He'll be able to drive when he passes his test.

Present ability
We use can or be able to to talk about present abiity. Be able to is more formal than can.
The negative form of can is can't or cannot. To form the negative of be able to, not is used before able. You can also use be unable to.
Many of my relatives aren't able/are unable to pronounce the word "taught" correctly.
Be capable of + gerund can also be used to express ability. It means to have the ability, capacity or potencial to do something.
The team has some excellent players and is capable of winning the championship.
The negative form be incapable of + gerund can be used or not can be placed before capable.
He is incapable/isn't capable of looking after himself.

Past ability
When we talk about general ability in the past, both could and was/were able to are possible.
He could paint really well when he was a child.
Bill wasn't capable of making toast without burning it.
When we talk about ability to do something on one occasion in the past, could is not possible. Instead, was/were able to, managed to + infinitive or succeeded in + gerund have to be used.
We managed to/were able to speak to Bill last night.
However, could can be used for ability on one occasion when it is used with verbs of the senses: see, smell, feel, hear, taste, sense.
I knew my husband has arived; I could smell his perfume.
When we talk about inability to do something on one occasion in the past, couldn't, weren't/wasn't able to, didn't manage to and didn't succeed in are all possible.
I couldn't do the homework last night; it was too difficult.

Verbs followed by preposition + gerund

These verbs can be followed by for + gerund:
apologize, blame, arrest, praise, forgive, punish, tell off, thank
Have you apologized to Sam for breaking her pen?

These verbs can be followed by from + gerund:
stop, prevent, discourage
His parents prevented him from leaving the town.

Congratulate and insist are followed by on + gerund.
She insisted on paying for the drink.

Warn can be followed by against + gerund.
We tried to warn her against driving in the snow.
Warn can also be used with of or about + noun.
Posters have been put up warning people of the dangers of smoking.

Benefits of Learning Languages – Infographic

Source: http://kaplaninternational.com/blog/learning-languages/

Countable and Uncountable nouns

Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted.
one plate, two cars, six tables

Uncountable nouns cannot be counted. They aren't used with the indefinite article (a/an), they don't have a plural and they are used with a singular verb form.
Can you get some water?
A lot of damage was done to the monument.
The following nouns are usually uncountable: graffiti, weather, luggage, furniture, travel, knowledge, work, English, information, damage, research, homework, advice, progress, health, news.

Nouns which are both countable and uncountable.
- Many words for drink and food can be used both countably and uncountably.
I've made a cake. (C)
Can I have some more cake? (U)
- A word used countably may have a very different meaning from its countable version.
I would like a single room for two nights. (C) (=hotel room)
There's no more room on this bus. (U) (=space)

Making uncountable nouns countable.
- Some uncountable nouns have countable equivalents with similar meanings.
My job involves a lot of business travel. (U)
I have to make a lot of business trips. (C)
- Some other uncountable nouns can be made countable by using piece/s of or item/s of.
Let me give you a piece of advice.
- Certain other expressions are used with words for drink and food: a corton of milk, a spoonful of salt, a loaf of bread.

Others
- Words used with countable nouns: a/an, few, a few, many, a large number of, each, every, several.
- Words used with uncountable nouns: little, a little, much, a great deal of.
- Words used with countable and uncountable nouns: some, any, a lot of, lots of, no, all, plenty of, most.

Little and Few
These two words have more negative meanings. They mean "not much/many" or "not as much/many as desired/expected".
Sue has made little progess since the beginning of the week.
There were very few people at the stadium. 

A little and A few
These have more positive meanings. They mean "some" or "more than expected".
I have still got a few eggs. Enough to make an omelette.

Plenty of
This means "a lot of" or "more than enough".
Do not hurry. We have got plenty of time.

All and Whole

WHOLE

It's usually followed by singular nouns which can be counted, singular countable nouns. 

For instance: The whole car, the whole month, the whole world

!!! Before place names we usually use “THE whole OF”.

For instance: The whole of Barcelona, The whole of America

ALL 

It's usually followed by plural nouns and by nouns that cannot be counted, uncountable nouns. 

For instance: All the children, all the people, all the dialogue

!!! Be careful with the word order: "ALL the" "The/A WHOLE"

WHOLE and ALL 

They are sometimes possible in some common time expressions. Also with some words depending on the sense you want to give them.

Examples of time expressions: All the week / The whole week. All the morning / The whole morning. All the life / The whole life

Examples of some words and expressions. ALL THE it means the contents. THE WHOLE it means the continent: All the office (the people working within the office) / The whole office (it means the building)

!!! ALL almost never loses “the”. For instance ALL Europe.

More info:
http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=whole
http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=all

David Bowie - Where are we now?

Learning English with BBC

Here is a very interesting link to learning English. Easy to understanding, well explained and with words and expressions very useful. With Quizzes, Grammar lessons, Vocabulary lessons, Pronunciation lessons, and an interesting site about "Talking Sport" good to listen and later to make worksheets. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

Thanks a lot to Marie for this info! ^_^