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Is the word Cannot one word or two?
Is cannot one word or two words? The answer is one word – most of the time. Cannot and can’t have the same meaning, but can not appears differently in a sentence. Read on to find examples of situations in which cannot or can’t would be acceptable, and when can not might cross your path.
How is Cannot spelled?
Both cannot and can not are acceptable spellings, but the first is much more usual. These two spellings [cannot/can not] are largely interchangeable, but by far the most common is “cannot” and you should probably use it except when you want to be emphatic: “No, you can not wash the dog in the Maytag.”
What two words make the word won t?
When we say won’t, we are actually saying will not. The form with the apostrophe is a contraction, like “don’t” and “can’t.” We owe the “o” in won’t to a sixteenth-century form of the word: wonnot.
What is the difference between can T and Cannot?
Here is a quick summary: Can’t is a contraction of cannot, and it’s best suited for informal writing. In formal writing and where contractions are frowned upon, use cannot. It is possible to write can not, but you generally find it only as part of some other construction, such as “not only . . . but also.”
When did Cannot become one word?
Cannot has been in use since the 15th century. We don’t know why English speakers thought it’d be a good idea to zip the two words together to form one; they didn’t seem to see much use in doing the same to do not or is not or have not.
Is Cannot one word UK?
People often ask me whether they should write cannot (1 word) or can not (2 words). Cannot is a contraction of can not. In British English cannot is the normal form. In American English both forms are acceptable but cannot is more common.
Why is Cannot one word?
So this is the rule: if you either could or could not do something, then you use two words, because you can leave out the second word if you so choose. If you could not do something no matter how much you desired or tried, then you use one word, cannot.
Can not or Cannot Oxford?
In contemporary English, both “cannot” and “can not” are acceptable, though they’re generally used in different ways. The combined form, as you point out, is more common (Lexico, formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online, says it’s three times as common in the Oxford English Corpus).
Why is another one word?
When we use the indefinite article an before other, we write it as one word: another. Another means ‘one more’ or ‘an additional or extra’, or ‘an alternative or different’.