They must have taught it to me there.
English Teacher in Taiwan of the year. No, of the decade!
I give you credit for this post.
Ahem! I shall thank my family, my teacher, and my friends âŚ
You should, itâs mine.
Cannot is used in writing all the time.
I was not attributing the logic directly to youâŚYou are simply saying this is how it is used according to convention and standard usage etc. I am saying, using my own logic, that there are no circumstances in writing that you could not replace âcannotâ with âcan notâ and it will make no difference in understanding what is being said. Even though it is used as a device to distinguish differences in meaning. Example: âWhat did he say to you?â. He said âyou cannot do itâ. He told you that you could not do it? The logic should extend to could, no?
The answer (maybe)
I couldnât believe what a monumental clusterfuck this is turning into.
I think you mean âcluster fuckâ and âin toâ.
Ok, Iâm on my way to get better glasses
Again, youâre free to write and pron ounce it how ever you want, even if itâs non stan dard. If you also want to apply this to âcouldnotâ and âmustnotâ etc., go a head.
Iâm not inter ested in having a de bate about the logic of the stan dard usage and how it relates to other words - I didnât invent the stan dard usage and havenât claimed that any logic exists.
Maybe someone could post the Grammarly link for a fourth time to clear things up?
Well I have a theory for this. Again, not all theories can be proven. How often when we say âcould notâ when we mean âcan notâ? Could has another meaning other than the mere past tens of can. When we use words like could, would, should, weâre trying to be polite. And therefore they wouldnât create such a strong tone. Personally Iâve hear of much more â I can not helpâ than âI could (pause) not helpâ. Now when we try to tell people I have the option to not help you, weâd try to give a strong impression. We donât even really say âcould notâ in real life. The could not/couldnât ratio, IMO, is so much lower than that of (cannot+can not)/canât.
Of course this could all be jibber jabber but itâs still fun to discuss. If you think there should be both âcould notâ and âcouldnotâ, feel free to promote it. I mean, if long time no see is a thing, why canât âcouldnotâ be one. Though Iâd doubt that would get popular since there isnât any inconvenience with a simple âcouldnâtâ.
Now I thought of another why.
There are isnât wasnât arenât werenât, but why not amnât?
Thereâs ainât.
And it basically works for everything.
I would really like to just teach âainâtâ to my students and forget about the rest.
Or whnât? Over time there probably will be.
Is it ok I use ainât instead of isnât etc?