Is “cannot” a word or a contraction?

6 Jan, 2010  |  Written by Rob  |  under Writing/Grammar

A friend recently sent me a site listing common errors in English usage, and I’ve been looking for a relevant way of bringing it up on this site. I’ve had some fun clicking around on it.

  • First, there’s the satisfaction of seeing some of my pet peeves corrected—nice to know someone shares my frustration at least. “ATM machine” and “I/me/myself” are good examples.
  • Then there’s the entertainment factor—the supposedly common mistakes that I wasn’t even aware people were making. “Virii?” ”Disconcerning?”
  • And lastly, there is of course the occasional learning experience. See “vicious/viscous circle/cycle.”

But one point I feel the site fails to emphasize is the difference between “cannot” and “can not.” My opinion is that the two are very different.

“Cannot” is not a contraction of “can not.” The first means “can’t” and the second means something more like “I’m capable of not…”

How’s that for a nitpicky start to 2010?

Thanks to Andy for sending the link.

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3 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

  1. brian  |  January 10th, 2010 at 8:09 am #

    cannot = unable to do
    can not = able to, but choose not to
    can’t = the verb contraction of cannot

    brian - Gravatar
  2. Paul  |  January 11th, 2010 at 1:08 pm #

    I give this site major props for proper pluralization:

    http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/

    I, for one, like saying Whoppers Jr. and MacBooks Pro, but I can’t seem to make it catch on…

    Paul - Gravatar
  3. Rob  |  March 3rd, 2010 at 4:35 am #

    Paul,

    In Hong Kong this week and noticing that 7-11 and Circle K seem to have stores on every corner. Just curios, would you consider those 7s-11 and Circles K?

    Rob - Gravatar

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