[mesmark]

Thanks for the responses.

Susan - I think i agree with you that it's the "be able to" that might have made me look at the sentence as funny. I've found quite a few times that the sentences this student poses to me aren't grammatically inaccurate but often the combinations of words strike me as odd.

I often find myself having to say, "It's fine but I don't think English speakers would ever say it like that."