[erlang-questions] 'cannot' /= 'can not'

Sean Hinde sean.hinde@REDACTED
Wed Jul 25 11:20:48 CEST 2018


> 
> I have tried to get a grip on this (not having English as my native
> language), and found these sites seems to say that there is no difference
> in meaning between "cannot" and "can not":
> 
>    https://www.dailywritingtips.com/cannot-or-can-not/
>    https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/204006/cannot-vs-can-not
>    https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4510/why-is-cannot-spelled-as-one-word
>    https://www.grammarly.com/blog/cannot-or-can-not/
>    http://grammarist.com/usage/cannot-or-can-not/ <http://grammarist.com/usage/cannot-or-can-not/>

This is a fun one. As a native english speaker here’s my take:

Using my son’s homework as an example:

He has a choice. He can do it, or he can not do it

If he cannot do it he has no choice :)

If forced to think I would use cannot in the context used in the release notes, 
although I have never over the years read that phrase in the release notes as 
meaning there is a choice in whether it can be applied.

Sean

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