Grammar Pet Peeve of the Day: “cannot” is one word, not two
Once again today I was assailed by a common spelling bug I see in code around the world. This example comes from PHP’s WASP:
can not write to 'compileDir'
Folks, cannot is one word, not two. “can not” in this context is simply incorrect. Yes, I know this is weird and inconsistent; but this is English we’re talking about, not Esperanto. The entire language is inconsistent and confusing, and this is just one small part of it.
On rare occasions one might use the two word form can not to put special emphasis on the word not, but even that’s questionable in written English. Please do us sticklers a favor and do a global search and replace in your code base to change all occurrences of “can not” to “cannot”. Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
January 23rd, 2006 at 5:06 PM
Picky, picky, picky. It’s just archaic, and passed without comment until the late 19th century or so. Anyone who uses “albeit” instead of “although” (I trust you pronounce it properly as “all be it”) shouldn’t complain about the occasional archaism.
January 27th, 2006 at 6:10 PM
It’s curious that you worship the status quo in English, flaws and all, but preach that programming languages should be improved. Why not try to make English better, even if only in some minor way?
January 27th, 2006 at 6:25 PM
Reposted from languagehat.com:
I donot understand why any one wouldnot think cannot isnot one word.
Posted by: Vroo at February 24, 2005 03:24 AM
November 28th, 2006 at 5:24 PM
Some idiots just won’t just accept that English is what it is, complex.
Cannot is one word, not two. End of discussion.
February 1st, 2007 at 2:02 PM
“Cannot” is an informal way of saying “can not”. It is not correct to choose cannot. It’s just stupid… unless you like the word, “ain’t” too. I bet you do. Idgit!
October 3rd, 2007 at 3:08 PM
What? “Cannot” is an informal way of saying “can not”? That is too funny. The improper use of the two-word version of “cannot” has become an epidemic. I hate it.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:39 PM
Matt is right! It’s “can not” just like any other contraction! It’s informal to use “cannot”.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:44 PM
“CAN NOT” is TWO WORDS!! Gosh, you people are dumb! “cannot” used to be the standard way of writing “can” and “not”. The grammar books may not have caught up with this spelling yet.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:57 PM
Webster and his dictionary does not say that “cannot” can not be two words. In fact, they list specific examples that use “cannot” with an auxiliary word. They do not list any examples of “cannot” without the auxiliary word. Now, the very first definition of “cannot” does not contain example sentences because it is very clear how to use it. That first definition of “cannot” is simply “can not.” In closing, there is not one single case where “cannot” must be used, but there are a few isolated cases where it is preferred. I am a stenographer, and in our steno world, we insist that “cannot” be used in almost all cases. We (as a profession) are wrong. And so are you.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:44 PM
According to this is can be used either way. The cannot useage is just more common.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
can·not Audio Help /ˈkænɒt, kæˈnɒt, kə-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kan-ot, ka-not, kuh-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb
1. a form of ·can not.
—Idiom
2. cannot but, have no alternative but to: We cannot but choose otherwise.
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME]
—Usage note Cannot is sometimes also spelled can not. The one-word spelling is by far the more common: Interest rates simply cannot continue at their present level. The contraction can’t is most common in speech and informal writing. See also can1.