mẫu ngữ pháp · neutral

can't afford + to + V

Band 5-6speakingtask2

to not have enough money, time or resources to do something

Examples

“I can't afford to fly home this summer, so I'll stay with friends.”

“We couldn't afford to replace the laptop yet.”

“As a student, she can't afford to turn down paid work.”

Band 8 sentence

“As someone funding my studies privately, I simply can't afford to take unpaid internships this year.”

Collocations

  • can't afford to buy/replace/spend
  • can't afford to take time off

Word family

afford verbaffordable adjective

Common mistakes

I can't afford buy a car.→I can't afford to buy a car.

I can't afford buying a car.→I can't afford to buy a car.

Say it for a higher band

5can't afford buy→6can't afford buying→7+can't afford to buy

Synonyms

be unable to afford

Easily confused

be unable to + V

“We are unable to meet the deadline.”

Related words

look forward to + V-ingtry + V-ing / try to + Vfor + somebody + to + Vavoid + V-ingbe likely to + Vbegin / start + V-ing / to + Vprevent + somebody + from + V-ingturn out + to + V

Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.

In Gerunds & infinitives

Learn it with its set