See vs can see

[AlexAD]

Hi

Looking into a binocular, I say, 'I can see a girl stripping in the building opposite'.
Would you feel any difference if I skipped 'can'?

I would be grateful if you would correct any mistakes you might find in this post.

Thanks Alex.

[5jj]

Both are possible; 'can see' is what we'd normally expect. A gentleman would use neither - he'd point the telescope in another direction.

[probus]

Looking into a binocular is incorrect in my opinion. If you insist on looking into you would have to say a pair of binoculars and have a somewhat unidiomatic phrase. Or better, you could just forget about looking into and simply say With binoculars or Using binoculars.

[5jj]

Looking into a binocular is incorrect in my opinion. If you insist on looking into you would have to say a pair of binoculars and have a somewhat unidiomatic phrase. Or better, you could just forget about looking into and simply say With binoculars or Using binoculars.

I missed that.

[AlexAD]

Thanks 5jj.

It was a joke! Of course I didn't see anything!

1. Is 'in the building opposite' ok?
2. 1 being the same as 'in the opposite building'?

[5jj]

Use 'the building opposite'. It is clear from this that you mean the building across from where you are now. If you use 'the opposite building', people will wonder 'opposite what?'.

[AlexAD]

If you use 'the opposite building', people will wonder 'opposite what?'.

That's interesting! And that's why
OALD gives us an example, Answers are given on the opposite page.
Here I cannot see any ambiguity about 'opposite what' as from the sentence it implies opposite the current page.
However if you say that the adjective should not be used in the previous example.. that's interesting :)