Cannot why one word

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Love words? Need even more definitions? Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? Continue reading to find out what they are. In this article, I will compare cannot vs. What does cannot mean? Cannot is a contraction of the two words can and not. It functions as an auxiliary verb that describes an action as impossible or not allowed. On a more technical level, cannot is a negative modal auxiliary verb. The verb can communicates the potential mood, which indicates likelihood or possibility.

In the contraction cannot , the likelihood or possibility is negated, therefore expressing impossibility or denial. Usage Note: The idiomatic phrase cannot but has sometimes been criticized as a double negative, perhaps because it has been confused with can but.

The but of cannot but , however, means "except," as it does in phrases such as no one but , while the but of can but has the sense only, as it does in the sentence We had but a single bullet left. Both cannot but and can but are established as standard expressions. The construction cannot help is used with a present participle to roughly the same effect as a verb form ending in -ing in a sentence such as We cannot help admiring his courage. This construction usually implies that a person is unable to affect an outcome normally under his or her control.

Thus, saying We could not help laughing at such a remark would imply that one could not suppress one's laughter. The construction cannot help but probably arose as a blend of cannot help and cannot but ; it has the meaning of the first and the syntax of the second: We cannot help but admire his courage. The construction has sometimes been criticized as a redundancy, but it has been around for more than a century and appears in the writing of many distinguished authors.

The expression cannot or can't seem to has occasionally been criticized as illogical, and so it is. Brian can't seem to get angry does not mean "Brian is incapable of appearing to get angry," as its syntax would seem to dictate; rather, it means "Brian appears to be unable to get angry. No mention whatsoever that cannot and can not have overtly or subtly different meanings. Evidence suggests that compound words — when two or more words express a single idea — often start life as two separate words, a hyphen is later added, and as usage becomes increasingly familiar the two words fuse and become permanently bonded.

The construction cannot , in my view, is an example of a compound verb. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Ask Question. Asked 11 years ago. Active 3 years, 5 months ago. Viewed 33k times.

Improve this question. Tsuyoshi Ito Tsuyoshi Ito 6, 5 5 gold badges 28 28 silver badges 27 27 bronze badges. I don't have the reputation to give this a full answer but I suspect it's to do with the scope. In short, the not in "can" negates the "can" whereas the "not" in "will" negates the following verb.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Etymonline says : c. It also defines cannot as: the ordinary modern way of writing can not Both Merriam-Webster and Wiktionary agree, by defining cannot as can not. A very similar concern is being raised on the Wiktionary Talk page for cannot : Maybe our current definition is wrong or incomplete. That post goes on to link to this blog : My public school teachers said can not was the correct form, and that cannot was a corruption. Sometimes both are true. Witness: I cannot change the world.

I can not change the world. Languagehat chimes in : [The Merriam-Webster definition of cannot as can not ] is appalling for two quite distinct reasons: from a copy-editing point of view because it implies that cannot and can not are interchangeable, and from a lexicographical point of view because it's a lousy definition.

Improve this answer. This is a wonderful answer on the relationship between "cannot" and "can not", but the question of why and how "cannot" became a single word is left open. ShreevatsaR: exactly.