Both "can not" and "cannot" are acceptable. I'll join your cause, though, because I prefer "can not" too, even though it's now much less common.
"Can not" allows for better sentence meaning too as the word "not" can be a modifier in a separate construct. For instance, "He can not only play football but also rugby". The "not" and the "only" form their own construct. If we said "He cannot only play football but also rugby" then it looks syntactically clumsy.
Precisely, Miss Tottykins. It can have a slightly different meaning with modifiers. And now I must away to bed as it is 4am and I cannot / can not get enough sleep as it is. :P
Haha awesome. I love dirty dreams. I orgasm in real life. Without touching myself. I've read about it on the internet and their not sure what exactly causes it in women but I'm certainly not going to complain. Have a good day dappled!!
You lucky swine. I just wake up and find my appendage drilling into the mattress or pressed against me at an unnatural angle, usually painfully. I need to invent special sleep codpiece which gives room for manoeuvre.
Is it normal to be bothered by the word "cannot"?
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Both "can not" and "cannot" are acceptable. I'll join your cause, though, because I prefer "can not" too, even though it's now much less common.
"Can not" allows for better sentence meaning too as the word "not" can be a modifier in a separate construct. For instance, "He can not only play football but also rugby". The "not" and the "only" form their own construct. If we said "He cannot only play football but also rugby" then it looks syntactically clumsy.
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So therefore can not has a different meaning to cannot? Maybe that's why both exist?
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dappled
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Precisely, Miss Tottykins. It can have a slightly different meaning with modifiers. And now I must away to bed as it is 4am and I cannot / can not get enough sleep as it is. :P
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Hehe sweet dreams dappled zzzzzz.
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dappled
12 years ago
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I had dirty dreams, which are the sweetest of all. :D
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Haha awesome. I love dirty dreams. I orgasm in real life. Without touching myself. I've read about it on the internet and their not sure what exactly causes it in women but I'm certainly not going to complain. Have a good day dappled!!
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dappled
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You lucky swine. I just wake up and find my appendage drilling into the mattress or pressed against me at an unnatural angle, usually painfully. I need to invent special sleep codpiece which gives room for manoeuvre.
Hope you sleep well too, when you get there!