Question

They didn't want to come with us at first , but we _ persuade them . can / could / was / were able to .​

Answer 1

Answer:

They didn't want to come with us at first, but we were able to persuade them.

Answer 2

Answer:

They didn't want to come with us at first, but we were able to persuade them.

Explanation:

Tense is an essential part of grammar as it points out the time of a particular event. In other words, it helps to determine at what point in time a particular event took place. Tense is of three types, they are as follows:

• Past tense,
• Present tense and
• Future tense.

They are further divided into subparts. However, we use "was/were able to" is used to describe a particular event by a narrator or a speaker. The abovementioned sentence is in the past tense. Hence, we can conclude that "were able to" is the only convenient option.