Active 4 years, 10 months ago. Viewed 2k times. Improve this question. Anthony Voronkov Anthony Voronkov 7 7 bronze badges. When a mother wants to get the point across,she uses a child's full name. I suspect that everything I have said is true in other languages, and I hope that the lurking linguists will set me straight if I am wrong. I'd like to point out that whatever the difference, it's the same difference there is between other pairs of contracted vs uncontracted negations like is not vs isn't.
The peculiarity with cannot is that it's not written as two separate words, but that's really just a spelling detail. However, it's worth noting that can not is also valid but normally means something else! Add a comment. Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion.
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Login: Forgot password? The words can and not should only appear together when they are part of separate but adjacent phrases. In this sentence, not is a part of another construction, i. In this case, you would separate cannot into two words. Here is a trick to remember can not vs.
Of course, rules are meant to be broken, and sometimes, albeit rarely, cannot can appear as two words. In these rare cases where it is appropriate, you would be well advised to simply rephrase your sentence, but if you insist on keeping it as it is, just remember that can not must be a part of two separate constructions to be correct.
Is it cannot or can not? These two spellings cause a lot of problems for writers, but the solution is quite simple.
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